The Feeling of Rejection
by LucyMabely
Summary: After Natsu rejects Lucy's feelings for him, the Celestial Spirit Wizard feels hurt and decides to leave Fairy Tail. She wants to become stronger, and ends up buying a strange book from a merchant in Magnolia. After taking a boat to the town of Kasai to handle a job, Lucy gets attacked by an enemy. Will a certain light dragon slayer come to her rescue? Read & Review.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

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 **Rejection**

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Lucy Heartfilia arrived at the Fairy Tail guild with a smile of happiness on her face, feeling quite delighted about how she would get to go on another job with her friends, and this was also the day where Lucy planned to tell something special to Natsu Dragneel. The fire dragon slayer was always ready to save her on missions, having no problem with beating up the bandits who would kidnap her, and Lucy blushed a light shade of pink as she thought about how Natsu was always very nice to her. He would even buy her food when she told him about her fridge nearly being empty, and he was a pretty good friend.

Lucy was also happy that she'd get to have an adventure with Erza Scarlet and Gray Fullbuster, as they were people who could fight really well, and Lucy could never forget the day where Erza managed to slice a giant monster in half with one of her strongest swords. She also thought about how Gray's Ice-Make Magic was strong enough to freeze enemies, and Gray's attacks were also quite powerful. They had been able to fight very well on every mission, even blocking attacks that would come Lucy's way, and she liked the fact that Team Natsu was such a great group.

She looked straight ahead to see that her friends were sitting down at a table, watching Erza sternly glare at Natsu and Gray to make them not argue with each other right now, and Lucy simply giggled softly as she walked over to them. Her cocoa brown eyes were directed at Natsu while she felt slightly nervous about admitting her feelings for him, really wanting to let him know that she liked how they had such a good friendship, and Lucy's heart began to softly beat while she proceeded to sit down in a chair that was near the table.

Her presence was immediately noticed by Natsu, who just looked at her with his usual goofy grin, and Lucy smiled back at him while slightly blushing. Erza and Gray also took notice of the Celestial Spirit Wizard, even though they chose to not say anything, and the sudden silence among the four mages was enough of a reason for Lucy to open her mouth. She was getting ready to tell Natsu that she wanted to become his girlfriend, having the desire to be in a relationship with him, and Lucy placed her hands by her heart for a moment while feeling like he would accept the offer to be her boyfriend.

The fire dragon slayer took notice of Lucy's cheeks blushing in a brighter shade of pink, merely thinking that she was blushing for some weird reason, and Natsu soon got up from his chair to look at jobs on the nearby request board. He had a puzzled look on his face while wondering about why Lucy was happily looking at him, as today's mission would be like any other mission that the team would do, and Lucy already paid her apartment's rent for the month. Natsu couldn't understand why Lucy was happy and excited, but she had her own reasons for acting like that on this calm morning.

Lucy blurted out while clenching her fists, having some nervousness in her voice, "Natsu, I.. I love you! I really love that we spend time together!"

Natsu turned and replied in a calm manner while smiling, misinterpreting Lucy's words, "I love you, too. You're a good friend, Lucy. In fact, you can probably give me good advice for asking out a girl that I like."

From hearing that last sentence, the smile on Lucy's face slowly changed into a frown. She expressed her love for Natsu, only to have him tell her that he was in love with someone else, and they would only remain friends. Erza turned around to give Lucy a sorry look, before explaining that the fire dragon slayer had confided in her that he secretly loved Lisanna Strauss, and Erza felt bad about the fact that she didn't tell Lucy about it sooner. Natsu enjoyed being around Lisanna for the past seven months, as their friendship grew when they'd spend time eating lunch together or going to the beach, and Lucy never even asked Natsu out on a date.

The heartbreak of rejection was quite harsh for the blonde-haired mage, feeling like the past seven months were a total waste of time, and Lucy felt like her heart was going to break into many pieces. Natsu had always loved being around her, giving her high-fives after every mission was complete, and hearing that he was liking someone else had caused Lucy to feel like she'd never find love. Rejection happened to many people in life, but Lucy never saw it coming. She could've asked the fire dragon slayer earlier about if he liked someone else, but she chose not to.

That was Lucy's mistake, as she did not consider the possibility of another girl being able to steal the heart of Natsu, and she would probably have to watch Natsu share his first kiss with Lisanna while the group was on a mission. That would certainly bring pain to her heart, making Lucy feel like she totally failed at trying to get Natsu's love, and she decided to get up from the chair without saying a single word. She looked down at her white shirt and blue skirt for a moment, looking saddened at how the color blue could represent sadness, and Lucy raised her head up while she was still frowning.

As she began to walk towards the guild's entrance doors, though, Gray asked her in a concerned tone about where she was going. Lucy's blonde hair was over her cocoa brown eyes to keep Gray and Erza from seeing their sadness, as the Celestial Spirit Wizard felt like she was about to cry, and Lucy simply informed Gray that she'd be going home. Lucy proceeded to run out of the guild while not wanting her friends to see that she was really upset about getting rejected, as that would just create tension and dysfunction for the team, and she certainly didn't want to hear what Natsu was going to say when he slightly opened his mouth.

Lucy ran down the left side of the guild's stairs while crying softly, not even noticing that Lisanna was walking up the stairs on the other side, and she was just really disappointed right now. She planned to tell Natsu about how she felt, really hoping that he would return her desire for love, but Lucy was sadly left with the bitter feeling of rejection. She didn't know where the situation would go from here, as Natsu was the type of person who could be unpredictable, but Lucy wanted to just go home for the sake of having a hot shower to calm herself down.

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 **How was Chapter 1? This is my first fanfiction story, so please feel free to share your thoughts on it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

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 **The Red Book & The Merchant **

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After taking a hot shower to relieve some stress, Lucy stepped out of the bathroom while she only wore a white towel. Her cocoa brown eyes were filled with disappointment, as she was still hurt from Natsu's recent words about how he loved Lisanna, and Lucy felt like scolding herself for making the huge mistake of not telling him sooner about how she loved him. That probably would've given the fire dragon slayer something to think about, as he most likely wouldn't have thought that Lucy's feelings came too late, but that scenario wouldn't be able to happen.

Lucy removed the towel from around her body while she picked up the pink pajama pants that were on her bed, frowning as she decided to put them on without wearing anything underneath them, and the blonde-haired girl also felt like she couldn't trust anyone in Natsu's team. They hadn't been mean or malicious to her at any point in time, but the fact that Erza kept Natsu's feelings about Lisanna from Lucy made her feel like people in the Fairy Tail guild would start to secretly say things behind her back. She softly clenched her right fist, feeling very hurt by how Natsu rejected her, and someone could've at least informed her a few months earlier that Natsu only thought of her as a friend.

She really hated how she assumed that he wasn't interested in anyone else, and Lucy put on her pink pajama shirt while thinking about how there weren't any other guys that she liked in the Fairy Tail guild. Gray was only a good friend to her, as he was a calm guy who really had to deal with the fact that Juvia Lockser was madly in love with him, and Lucy never had any romantic interest in the black-haired mage. She let out a depressed sigh while feeling like this was the worst day of her life, thinking that tomorrow would just be a day of watching Natsu kiss Lisanna, and the thought of them sharing kisses made Lucy groan in a frustrated manner.

The brown-eyed girl got into her bed while feeling like she just wanted to sleep for the rest of the day, thinking that today would show no signs of happiness for her, and Lucy felt like going on jobs with Team Natsu would just be tough. What if Lisanna was able to form really good friendships with Erza and Gray? That would cause them to possibly start ignoring Lucy, just causing the emotional pain in her heart to grow larger, and Lucy didn't want that to happen at all. She may have just been paranoid about what Lisanna could do, but Lucy had every right to worry.

Not worrying about Natsu's love life had caused her to get too confident with her chances of dating him, and that slight bit of arrogance caused Lucy to admit her love for him after seven long months. She simply had her hands by her sides while being under the pink blanket, looking up at the ceiling as those thoughts continued to run through her mind, and Lucy felt like she really needed some sleep. She let her body slightly sink into the bed, allowing her to feel its warmth, and Lucy began to close her cocoa brown eyes.

"I really wish.. that someone could love me." Lucy whispered to herself in a saddened tone, before drifting off to sleep.

As Lucy began to sleep while ignoring the sunlight that came through her windows, she only groaned softly from the sound of someone pulling a cart outside her apartment. She wanted to just go into a lovely dream where someone would want to be her boyfriend, really desiring some form of love that would make her feel very happy, and Lucy really hoped that the love she could find in a dream would eventually find its way into reality. That would be something very amazing to hope for, but could it really happen? If it could, then Lucy would feel better.

"Fairy Tail... It's just too much." Lucy sadly muttered in her sleep, as her dream began to involve the guild.

Lucy placed her left hand over her right hand while she was sleeping, particularly placing her palm over the pink guild mark that was on the back of her right hand, and she acted like it was getting effaced. Did Lucy want to leave Fairy Tail? After dealing with that rejection and finding out that Erza knew about what was going on in Natsu's love life, it wouldn't be surprising for Lucy to want peace in another guild. She didn't know where any of the other guilds were located, though, and that was certainly a thorny issue to deal with.

The blonde-haired girl also tossed and turned in her sleep, feeling like she'd be very jealous of Natsu doing anything romantic with Lisanna, and Lucy really needed some time away from the guild. She would probably have to go on a mission with just her Celestial Spirits, as they would probably be better allies who she could handle being around, and Lucy would also get some time away from the town of Magnolia. That would prevent her from walking down a street to see any of Team Natsu's members, but leaving town very quickly would just leave her with some unanswered questions.

Despite the fact that she was sleeping, Lucy had wanted to know why Erza didn't have the decency to at least tell her that Natsu's heart was set on Lisanna. The woman with scarlet red hair had been her friend for a while, always trying to be supportive of Lucy, and it wasn't really cool for Erza to giggle whenever Lucy told her that she was in love with the pink-haired dragon slayer. Erza would even encourage Lucy to subtly flirt with Natsu, and she could've told Lucy to stop chasing after Natsu when he admitted that Lisanna was the person he loved. However, Erza failed to do that. If Erza let Lucy deal with the rejection that shattered her hopes of finding love, then who could Lucy really trust?

* * *

 **Several hours later...**

Lucy woke up to see that the sun was setting on the town of Magnolia, making the town be bathed in an orange glow that was quite relaxing, and she looked at the alarm clock on her nearby desk to see that it was four o'clock in the evening. Lucy had slept for at least seven hours, simply letting the rough day go by while she had been in a dream, and she was now awake to do anything for the rest of the evening. The blonde-haired mage stretched her body out while feeling her muscles click and pop, feeling like this would be a chance to at least get one mission done, and Lucy didn't care if she'd have to come back home after midnight.

She got out of bed while looking somewhat tired, letting out a soft yawn as she raised her arms above her head, and Lucy felt that this could technically be her second start to the day. She could choose to go out on a job, which is what the team chose to do several hours earlier, or she could just go shopping for some groceries. Her refrigerator was starting to not have a high amount of food, which was a good reason for her to buy more, and Lucy could guess that Natsu wouldn't be coming over to her apartment for any dinner.

Lucy decided to walk over to her closet that was nearby, looking at all the cute clothes that she could wear, and Lucy took off her pink pajamas. She put on her pink bikini top and pink bikini bottom that had yellow stars designed on them, before putting on a red shirt that had ruffles at the bottom, and Lucy chose to put on some black shorts as well. She also looked down while picking out some blue flat shoes to wear, finding them to very comfortable shoes, and Lucy took notice of how her ten Celestial Spirit keys were on the kitchen table.

She put on her shoes while having a calm look on her face, still feeling somewhat unsure about this day having any kind of happiness to it, and Lucy felt like it would just be another boring day. The blonde-haired girl let out a depressed sigh while she looked at herself in the reflection of a nearby glass window, seeing that her hair was currently in a mess, and she didn't really think that there was any reason to make her hair look good. After all, the feeling of rejection gave her no reason to focus on her appearance. It wasn't like Natsu would care for her beauty, anyway.

Really wanting to just get this day over with, Lucy ran to the kitchen and grabbed her ten golden keys. She put them in the right pocket of her shorts, before choosing to run towards the front door, and Lucy sighed a bit while thinking about how she'd get stuck with a cruddy job. After all, most of the day went by. The best jobs were probably taken, which would probably leave Lucy with a job that paid very little money, and she simply sighed about that. As Lucy hurriedly opened up the door and ran outside, however, she was quick to collide with a merchant who happened to be passing by.

"Oh, no! I'm so sorry! I hope that didn't hurt too much." Lucy told the girl with a concerned facial expression, as she watched her fall on to the ground while dropping a small box.

The red-haired merchant responded in a somewhat pained manner, rubbing her rear that became sore from the fall, "I guess there's a first time for having someone crash into you when it's least expected. At least the book didn't fly out of my hands."

Lucy's brown eyes looked over at the red book that landed on the ground, seeing that the front cover had a strange symbol on it that possibly resembled a guild insignia, and she walked over to pick it up. A brown flyer nearly came out from between some pages, but Lucy slid it back in while she chose to just give the book back to the merchant. It was the least that she could do, especially after how she knocked her over while being in such a hurry, and Lucy was glad that the fall didn't really injure the red-haired girl. She walked over to the girl, who simply looked at her with a calm facial expression, and Lucy chose to hand it back to her.

"Who are you, anyway? I've never seen you here before." Lucy asked and said with a curious look on her face while stretching out her hands to give the book back.

The merchant was a girl who had her red hair down while she also had hazel eyes, and her skin was fair. She wore a red T-shirt with some brown shorts and brown boots to match, having a red symbol that looked like Sabertooth's insignia on her left wrist, and she created a red fireball in her left hand for a moment. She gently rubbed her right arm with the fire, which really surprised Lucy, and the merchant's arm soon became engulfed in flames. They didn't hurt, however, since those flames were part of a healing spell, and Lucy merely blinked her eyes in amazement from witnessing that for the first time.

The merchant replied in a kind manner while shaking her head in response to not wanting the book, "My name is Kira Blazia, and I'm a traveling merchant who came here to sell my last product before heading back to my guild. Maybe that book can give you some tips on how to not be in a hurry for any sales."

Lucy said while looking slightly irked at the last sentence, "I'm Lucy Heartfilia, and you're certainly making snarky humor out of this situation. Whatever's in this book won't be needed by me, though."

Kira informed Lucy that she was a mage who wielded Fire Magic, which clearly meant that her magic allowed her to work with fire, and the hazel-eyed merchant started to explain that the red book was a strange item. She actually stole that spell book from a dark guild when she took a job that required the assassination of a certain person, not really caring that the red book had spells in it that she had never even dreamed of using, and Kira simply smiled with glee while telling Lucy that it was a special book that could supposedly make a person feel stronger.

Lucy's eyes widened in a surprised manner at how the book could make a person feel stronger, making them feel much better, and Lucy really wanted to feel happy. Kira giggled while she continued to say that the book was very strange, as it actually contained secret spells that were only known to the dark guild that was known as Hell's Blaze, and there were rumors about similar books being in Fiore. However, Kira had yet to find any of the others. She decided to just let Lucy have that one, as her own Fire Magic didn't need to be improved, and Kira didn't even care that she was a Sabertooth mage helping out someone from Fairy Tail.

Of course, every merchant did have to make things be at a price. Kira grinned in a scheming manner while saying that the book would cost 60,000 jewels, and that prompted Lucy to be somewhat shocked. She didn't have that kind of money on her right now, which was quite a shame, but then she opened up the book to find the brown flyer that hadn't even been folded. She turned a few pages while ignoring the fact that some of the words were in cherry red text while other words were weirdly in pink text, and Lucy managed to find the flyer.

She looked at the reward on the flyer, surprised to see that it was 900,000 jewels, and Lucy glanced up at the red-haired merchant to see her giggling in a silly manner. Lucy could just do the job and pay for the book later, which would be an unusual agreement between a mage and a merchant, but what was the task that she'd have to do? After all, that massive sum of money would have to be attributed with the job of killing a criminal or escorting an important person to a foreign land. Whatever the task was, Lucy felt like she could help her spirits with handling it.

The blonde-haired girl let her eyes scroll down the description, seeing that it was written by someone who was saying that an item called the Fire Crystal was now in their possession, and the client rudely stated that Kira wouldn't have the guts to get it from the town of Kasai that resided on Emblaze Island. This wasn't a job, but it was more like a ransom note. Kira began to giggle nervously while telling Lucy that she killed a criminal in a guild on the same job where she stole the book, and the rest of the people in that guild were possibly wanting revenge on her. That seemed like a logical explanation for why they sent the ransom note to Sabertooth, but why not just ask someone to kill her?

Lucy narrowed her brown eyes as she told Kira to be safe on her way back to the guild she was part of, stating that this ransom mission would be something she could handle, and Lucy felt like it was a total trap. Even if the Fire Crystal was a real item, would it even be a part of the trap? She felt sure enough to tell Kira that it was probably just bait to lure her there, but Kira kindly retorted with the fact that her guild master and his best friend informed her earlier through a Lacrima Crystal about how they saw it. Kira knew what the Fire Crystal looked like, and her guild master's words matched the description.

"Where is Emblaze Island, Kira? Should I take a boat to get there?" Lucy calmly asked her new friend, as she never saw it on any maps in Fairy Tail.

Kira explained to her while smiling, happy that Lucy would take this mission, "Yes, take a boat to Emblaze Island. It's somewhat far from here, but you'll like it. Kasai Town is a tourist destination where a fiery volcano resides. In fact, users of Fire Magic should train there more often. Anyway, I'm gonna go find more jobs or find more items to make some sales! I'll be back later to see your profits, and remember to always look both ways while you're running!"

As Kira began to run up the street for the sake of possibly going through the woods to get home, Lucy merely looked surprised about what she got herself into. Volunteering to handle someone else's matters is what a mage was always supposed to do, but this was like an S-Class mission. Despite how this seemed difficult, though, Lucy clenched her fists as she felt like it would give her the opportunity to spend lots of time away from Natsu and the other team members. In fact, she could have lots of fun without them. Lucy thought that the rest of her day would be boring, but a quirky red-haired merchant certainly made this evening have more excitement to it.

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 **How was Chapter 2? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

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 **Flames on Emblaze Island**

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Lucy ran down the street while heading towards the harbor, wanting to be on the next boat that was setting sail for Emblaze Island, and she turned her head for a moment to look at how the sun was setting. She wanted this mission to be done swiftly, as it did seem to be very tough, but Lucy also felt like this mission would be tough to complete. After all, she would be dealing with vicious criminals who had the audacity to send out a threat to a merchant. Those bad guys would probably try to beat up Lucy, but this was not the time to feel nervous.

In fact, Lucy was starting to slightly smile at the fact that she'd get to leave the town of Magnolia for a few hours. That would prevent her from seeing Natsu having fun around town with Lisanna, and Lucy also wouldn't end up running into them. She would be too busy with whatever needed to be handled on Emblaze Island, ready to deal with any danger that would come her way, and Lucy's cocoa brown eyes were filled with determination as she was running. This was a mission that she was doing for someone else, really wanting to help them, and helping someone who was in any kind of trouble had always made Lucy feel somewhat happy.

She wondered about what the enemies would be like, guessing that they wouldn't have Fire Magic because of how they probably knew that Kira could use it, and good criminals were always smart to plan ahead. If they wanted to kill Kira or make her Fire Magic be useless, then they probably wouldn't be using fire-based attacks against her. It seemed like the red-haired merchant could manipulate Fire Magic very well, as she cleverly made a healing spell out of fire itself, and she could possibly unleash fireballs that would be quite powerful.

The Celestial Spirit Wizard remembered how Kira had the insignia of guild on her wrist while the guild mark was red, possibly making her belong to the Sabertooth guild, and Lucy was really interested about it. Sabertooth was a good guild that had been spoken about by many people, as its mages were very skilled enough to win the Grand Magic Games for seven straight years, and it was quite an accomplishment for Fairy Tail's wizards to beat them in the tournament that transpired last year. Kira was probably a new addition to the guild, since Natsu never mentioned her in last year's tournament, and Lucy felt like that was interesting.

She widened her eyes while seeing the harbor within sight, Lucy's legs allowing her to run much faster for the sake of not missing her chance to get on the boat, and Lucy boldly jumped over one of the small canals to reach another street while she looked focused on getting this job done. Not only did she feel like it would assist her with getting stronger and finding happiness, but the thought of someone sending threats to a merchant made Lucy feel like she really needed to stop these criminals. Defeating the villains would most likely make their allies shift the focus from Kira to Lucy, and that was pretty exciting.

 _"I'm almost there, and my heart is beating rapidly! I can't wait to see what this job will be like!"_ Lucy thought to herself with a smile of determination on her face, as she felt very psyched about this mission.

Lucy kept running at a fast pace while her nose could start detecting the scent of salty air, feeling a calm sea breeze towards her, and she was definitely close to the harbor. She could see that some boats were coming into the port while one was about to leave, and Lucy's cocoa brown eyes caught a quick glance at a wooden board that was near the harbor's doorway. It informed her that the next ship heading to Emblaze Island would depart at 4:30 p.m., and the current time was 4:20 in the evening. Lucy was certainly not late, and she ran through the doorway of the harbor while her facial expression became calmer.

Lucy wasted no time with following two men who both had black spiky hair and green eyes, as they looked at her while pointing to a red motorboat that was gently floating on the water, and the two men wore black business suits while having some swords in the left pockets of their black pants. One of the men turned around to look at Lucy, who was a bit confused about why they weren't wearing the typical uniforms of sailors who worked at the harbor, and he motioned for her to just follow them. There would be no turning back now, especially because of how that boat was actually belonging to the dark guild known as Hell's Blaze.

The blonde-haired girl walked down the wooden dock with the two men, all three of them softly jumping into the boat, and Lucy chose to sit in the back of the boat near the motor. The two men sat up front while they turned around with stern looks on their faces, not really minding that Lucy decided to open up the red book of fiery spells, but the man who was going to control the steering wheel and the accelerator pointed the index finger of his left hand at Lucy. He eyed her very closely, almost like he was trying to make sure that the right girl was in the boat, and Lucy seemed like she'd fit the description of a mage.

The two men were unaware that their leader spoke of wanting to kill the girl who was a hazel-eyed merchant, merely stating that the two lackeys had to go around looking for her, and they only remembered the leader telling them that Kira would possibly have the red book with her. Since Lucy was the person who currently wielded that book, they couldn't really have any doubts about her being the girl who was part of the ransom. The henchmen decided to speed off with Lucy in tow, not even caring that they probably made one of the biggest mistakes in history, and their boat was headed for Emblaze Island.

Lucy began to stand up while a smile appeared on her face, slowly turning around to see that she'd be getting some distance from the guy who rejected her, and Lucy's cocoa brown eyes twinkled at the thought of how she'd get to have fun in Kasai Town. Kira let her know that it was a tourist destination with a fiery volcano also being a major attraction, and there would most likely be some good food in that town. After all, great places to eat were always the best thing that attracted tourists. They also helped the town's economy thrive, too. Even if Lucy wanted food, though, would she be right about the Fire Crystal not existing?

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in the volcano...**

Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney stood across from two villains who frowned at them in an angry manner, pretty upset that Sting was hiding behind a rock for several hours, and the blue-eyed dragon slayer managed to take the Fire Crystal off of a red pedestal when his enemies were busy chatting with their female leader. She was currently sitting on a red chair that she brought into this room of the volcano while waiting for her other henchmen to show up with Kira, really wanting to snap that red-haired girl's neck for killing one of her allies, and taking one of the guild's books was almost like adding insult to injury.

The creator of the ransom note was a woman who had dark red hair that was straight, as it was down to the base of her spine, and she had cherry red eyes that went well with the strapless black dress that she wore. Black clothing could make a person feel hotter, but she didn't mind the heat at all. Fire-wielding mages rarely minded the heat, unless the fire was directed at them, and these dark mages couldn't absorb fire. They were able to wield powerful spells of Fire Magic, though, so these criminals were pretty dangerous.

The female leader watched her partners shoot out some beams of fire from their mouths, aiming them at Sting, and the light dragon slayer merely dodged the attacks while having a cocky grin on his face. He looked at the criminals who wore black undershirts with red shorts to match, asking them if that was their best move, and Sting made white light engulf his right fist. He ran towards one of the male criminals, who was ready to pull out a sword from the right pocket of his red shorts, but Sting swerved to the left for the sake of striking the other male criminal in the face.

He was sent crashing into one of the volcano's walls, creating quite a large crack, and that criminal's partner was distracted long enough for Rogue to strike him with a black vortex of shadowy energy that had been unleashed from his mouth. He sent that foe crashing through a nearby rock, knocking him unconscious while he fell to the ground, and it seemed like victory would be possible for Sabertooth's twin dragon slayers. However, were they merely dealing with easy prey? After all, the female leader still had not even fought yet. In fact, she seemed like it would be good to save her energy for killing Kira.

Sting would not want that to happen, however, and his facial expression became stern while he ran towards the villain. He was planning to end this fight with Holy Nova, desiring it to be done before Kira would even get here, but the red-haired female warped away into a red flame that appeared! She used a move known as Flame Warp, which was useful for getting out of tough situations, and she soon appeared next to Rogue. She began to speak while aggressively striking him in the chest with her left elbow, wanting Sting to hear this, and he wouldn't like what she was going to say.

"When that wretched girl arrives in Kasai Town, I'll just stab her to death with this finely polished sword. She may have strong spells of Fire Magic, but this sword will make them end up being useless against me. You may have taken the Fire Crystal, but I'll kill you two after I end Kira's life. My henchmen who are escorting her here and the ones at Kasai's harbor will restrain her long enough for the killing." The female dark mage explained to the males with an evil grin on her face, before going through the exit that led to the town of Kasai.

Sting said aloud in a stern manner, punching one of the walls with his left fist, "Darn it, Rogue! We got the Fire Crystal easily, and we beat down that lady's guards who had been walking back and forth in front of the pedestal for hours! If Kira gets killed, this will totally suck. We came here to try and stop the stupid ransom, but those henchmen could've gotten Kira."

"Just relax, Sting. As quirky as Kira is, I doubt she'll come here." Rogue told Sting with a calm facial expression, as he had even told Kira to go back home when she was done with selling items.

Rogue knew that Kira wouldn't dare to show up in Kasai Town, as her flames would be rendered useless by someone who had a tough sword with high amounts of density in the blade, and Rogue even saw this when one of the henchmen mistakenly shot out fireballs at the leader. She blocked them with the sword, not a scratch or mark being seen on it at all, and those defensive swords coupled with high offensive power were the perfect tools to combat Kira's fire spells. Even so, Kira would obviously find a way to either escape from foes or make them be in a tricky situation.

Sting exhaled a breath of air while he trusted Rogue, feeling like his comrade was telling the truth, and he seemed to think that Kira would be smart. Even though she thought that the Fire Crystal was really useful for powering up her Fire Magic, she could just get it from Sting. That's exactly why him and Rogue chose to steal it, as that gave their friend a better chance of having it, and Kira could be at Sabertooth right now. In fact, Sting could just check the Lacrima Communications Crystal that was in the right pocket of his blue vest.

As Rogue decided to run out of the volcano, even ignoring the fact that the volcano had hidden rooms, Sting chose to follow him while starting to smirk a bit. He guessed that the female villain couldn't teleport all the way back to her guild that was known as Hell's Blaze, as every spell had its range, and this fight could be finished at Kasai's port. There were barely any people swimming in the water or fishing near the port, making it the best place for a good fight, and Sting certainly had to live up to his reputation as Sabertooth's guild master. If he couldn't defeat one of his friend's enemies, then how could he make her problem go away?

Kira certainly made things be very interesting for the Sabertooth guild, as no one ever predicted that she'd get herself involved with this type of trouble, and the funny part of this dilemma was that Sting didn't know that Kira asked a person from Fairy Tail to help her with this matter. Things were already very crazy with the fact that the enemies went through the trouble of buying dense swords, planning to execute Kira and possibly send her down into the ocean, but a certain Celestial Spirit Wizard was also about to get involved in this heated situation.

* * *

 **45 minutes later, at the harbor...**

The red motorboat arrived at Kasai Town's harbor, stopping next to the wooden dock, and the henchman who had driven the boat wasted no time with grabbing Lucy's left arm for the sake of rudely throwing her on to the dock. The henchman who hadn't been driving chose to climb a small metal ladder that would lead up to the dock, laughing evilly at how Kira was supposedly the girl who was taken here from Magnolia, and he got on to the dock in time to see Lucy stand up. The cohort driving the boat also decided to take the ladder up to the dock, ready to await further orders, but what would happen?

Lucy decided to run away from the two men, as she decided that it would be good to look for the Fire Crystal that Kira spoke of, but she was pushed back by two girls who jumped out from behind some trash cans. One of the girls had her red hair styled in two buns while she wore a black sweater with black pants to match, complimenting her golden eyes, and the other female enemy had her red hair tied back in two ponytails while she had sky blue eyes. She wore a purple sweater with white pants to match, having a small sword in the left pocket of her pants, and both of the girls grinned evilly while they took a moment to glance at a red treasure chest that was behind a tree.

Lucy narrowed her cocoa brown eyes as she thought about summoning Aquarius, as that would be the best thing for her to do when water was nearby, but Lucy held the red spell book in her right hand while one of the male villains evilly ordered her to not even think about pulling out any kind of magical item. He sternly looked at the blonde-haired girl while proceeding to tell her that one combative movement would cause her to get stabbed in the face by all four of the leader's henchmen, and his tone of voice showed Lucy that these people were not going to joke around.

She groaned in frustration at the thought of how she was surrounded by the four enemies who chose to form a square around her, thinking that choosing to not do anything would just result in the enemies still feeling the need to stab her, and Lucy only got to read about two spells in the red book during the boat ride to Emblaze Island. She felt like they would probably be useful, even though she was ordered to not move, but Lucy wouldn't have the chance to use any spells. In fact, she soon found herself being shocked at how a white laser beam of light struck one of the female villains from behind.

It hit that girl quite hard, sending her falling into the water, and she managed to stay afloat while groaning in pain. Lucy blinked her eyes twice when she saw a certain light dragon slayer and shadow dragon slayer standing behind the situation, quickly deciding to run towards the dock, but a certain female leader surprised Lucy even more by appearing out of a red flame that appeared on a cobblestone street. She appeared to be using chopsticks to eat hot noodles from a bowl, feeling rather hungry, and she looked up for a moment to see something that caused her to harshly drop the fragile bowl while her cherry red eyes twitched in anger.

"Miss Matsurika, we brought Kira to you! I hope we'll get paid greatly for this! That red book belonged to our guild, and there's no mistaking it." One of the male henchmen said with a smile on his face, thinking about how it was so easy to find who he thought was Kira.

Matsurika Ringo responded in a severely displeased tone, thinking that the guild's most bumbling idiots couldn't possibly mess up the task, "That's the wrong girl, you idiots! It's the book from our guild, yes, but do you need constant reminders about someone's description?! I thought you could remember that a redhead killed a member of our guild! You two are just morons, you know that?!"

The two men were quickly punished by their leader, as she created a large ball of fire in her left hand, and she threw it at the two fools while Lucy was quick to duck for cover. The men were both set ablaze while they screamed in pain, as they couldn't absorb Fire Magic, and the flames from their female leader were hard to endure. The flames burned away at their clothing, making their business suits and pants possibly get entirely burnt off, and the two men ended up falling off the dock to have the flames extinguished in the ocean. They were not very good at swimming, however.

The female lackey who was on the dock had decided to pull out the sword from the left pocket of her white pants, charging towards Lucy while seeing her start to stand up, and Lucy was startled at the sight of this. She wouldn't be able to summon a Celestial Spirit quickly enough to avoid getting stabbed, as the red-haired girl was headed straight for her at high speeds, and Lucy certainly didn't want to jump in the ocean. She really hoped that her life would not end in this moment, especially since that sword's tip looked quite sharp, but what happened next would be interesting.

Lucy's attacker was soon knocked out by Sting, who kicked the woman with sky blue eyes in the back of her head, and he had actually been running after her while she was running towards Lucy. Matsurika only allowed it because she felt like Sting would be a waste of her time, and she was also evil enough to feel like the lackeys were people who could be sacrificed. If the two male henchmen actually managed to bring Kira to Emblaze Island, though, then there would've been no need to burn them. To put it simply, the villainous woman was just getting rid of her incompetent comrades and she'd let Sabertooth's dragon slayers clean up the rest of the trash.

Rogue decided to try striking Matsurika from behind with his Shadow Dragon's Slash, only to see her block it with the long sword that she held in her right hand, and the shadow dragon slayer was soon sent downward to roll across the cobblestone street. That was enough to make Lucy become miffed, as Rogue and Sting were trying to help her, and the blonde-haired girl decided that now would be the best time to use one of the spells from the red book. There was no way of knowing if the result would be good or bad, but she'd have to give it a try.

Lucy opened the red spell book to the very first page where she saw cherry red text during her conversation with Kira, really hoping this would work, and the red words informed Lucy that this first spell would simply be known as Fire Ball. Lucy shot out a red ball of fire from her mouth, noticing how it was the same size as her hand, and the ball quickly headed towards Matsurika. The antagonist had no trouble with using the sword to block it, however, and the little clouds of smoke faded away quickly to reveal that no damage was done to the blade.

"What?! Fire is supposed to be very effective against a steel blade! How did that not damage the sword?!" Lucy asked aloud, narrowing her brown eyes after she was shocked by what she was seeing.

Matsurika explained in a sadistic manner while smirking evilly, feeling like she wanted to laugh, "Impressive, isn't it? This long sword is made of tempered steel that can even slice through rocks with ease. Shoot out all the fireballs you want, Blondie, but they won't work. My sword is invulnerable, and it can even allow me to do things like this."

The woman with cherry red eyes placed the index finger of her left hand on to the sword, channeling her magical power into it, and a large fireball was soon shot out from the sword! Sting looked pretty surprised at how that could be done, seeing that the villain was pretty skilled with her Fire Magic, and Lucy decided to use the Fire Ball spell again. She shot out another fireball, hoping that the two projectiles would clash, but the smaller ball of fire strangely went straight to the sword! It made the same result occur, causing Matsurika to laugh at the Celestial Spirit Wizard, but seeing her own fireball quickly turn around to also make contact with the sword was really a surprise.

Matsurika slid back a few inches while she had to block the large fireball, feeling its heat, but the sword still didn't look damaged. It could even handle a powerful attack like that, but Lucy didn't care. She thought about how a Fairy Tail mage would always fight to the bitter end, not caring if the odds of winning were not in their favor, and Lucy used the Fire Ball spell three more times. She attempted to aim them at her opponent's black dress, hoping that would cause Matsurika to burn up in flames, but the balls of fire were just drawn to the sword. Three small explosions occurred, each one being slightly bigger than the one preceding it, and Sting widened his eyes while he noticed this.

As Matsurika put her left hand on the sword to make a fiery attack be unleashed from it, closing her eyes to concentrate, Lucy noticed that a slight crack had formed on the sword's metal blade. It appeared to have been made after Matsurika made the large fireball appear, almost like the sword took recoil damage from unleashing a high amount of power, and Lucy now had an opening. She just needed to aim for that crack, or hope that one of the two dragon slayers would be able to hit it. Sting and Rogue were both ready to charge towards Matsurika, as they wanted to end this fight, but Sting decided to just run to the cobblestone street while he could feel a strong attack coming.

"You've been very insolent! Have a hot bite of this, Blondie!" Matsurika exclaimed in an arrogant manner, as she watched a large vortex of red fire quickly emerge from the blade of her long sword.

Lucy replied in a calm manner as a happy smile started to appear on her face, realizing something crucial from seeing those flames, "My fireballs may seem a bit weak, but they're about to help me create a defensive spell that's pretty good. Also, a spell with that much power is going to quite a lot of stress on your sword."

Lucy shot a fireball down at the wooden dock, purposely using its fiery explosion to propel herself into the air, and the blonde-haired girl was sent flying for a few seconds. She was about to land on the cobblestone while grinning a bit from seeing Matsurika's fiery attack go through the hole in the dock, watching it go into the sea, and a massive explosion of red fire soon ignited the sea! The ocean around Kasai Town soon had red-hot flames on the water, turning it red while the ocean's water was about to reach a scalding hot temperature, and the female lackey who had tried to stay afloat in the water was struck by some flames that sped outward to harshly burn her!

Matsurika soon looked down at her beloved sword to see another crack form on it, being much larger than the other crack, and her flaming attack was far too powerful for the blade to handle. She soon gasped in shock while thinking back to all the fireballs Lucy threw, thinking that she could deliberately make those fireballs power up her own spells, but the antagonist realized that Lucy was increasing the strength of the flames to give too much force to Matsurika's attacks. That's why the sword was starting to have cracks, looking like a few more fiery attacks would completely break the blade off of the black handle, and Matsurika was outsmarted.

Lucy took notice of how Matsurika's attack seemed to be drawn to the energy of the fireball that made a gaping hole in the dock, which would explain why it went through the hole, and the blonde-haired girl was ready to help the dragon slayers defeat the person who had threatened Kira's life. She watched the antagonist shoot out fireballs from her left hand, seeing them strike the sword, and it seemed like Matsurika could care less about it breaking into pieces. She placed her left hand on the blade, focusing her magical power into this final attack, and Matsurika let a large fireball be shot out from her blade. The fireball spun while it headed straight for Lucy at high speeds, but would all of that fiery energy backfire?

"Time for the second spell, and it's known as Magma Shield!" Lucy shouted with a determined look on her face while stretching out her left hand.

In a few seconds, a large dark red shield appeared in front of Lucy. She stood behind it while noticing that the shield was shaped like a flame, and the shield had a small pink flame emblem in its center. When the fireball struck the shield, Lucy watched her shield be stretched slightly backward for a moment. It started to stretch outward while showing off its side effect, and the shield made the fireball be sent back at Matsurika in the form of three dark red balls. They were made of volcanic magma, though, and their level of heat was quite intense.

Matsurika attempted to block one with her cracked sword, only to see the magma's fiery explosion break it into pieces, and the antagonist closed her eyes while she was struck by the other two projectiles! They created a large explosion of fire, the noise causing many of the tourists to see what all the noise had been about, and Matsurika was being burned badly. The flames caused another explosion to occur, sending Matsurika flying quite high into the sky, and the flaming woman was interestingly going in the right direction to where her guild was located.

Sting commented in a calm manner, pretty glad to see her soar through the air, "When she hits the ground, that'll be pretty explosive."

* * *

As Rogue used his Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic send the flames into their shadows, not wanting them to burn anyone who was nearby, Lucy walked a few feet away from the scene to see that there was a red treasure chest behind a tree. This was probably going to be Kira's reward, if she had been able to defeat Matsurika and her crew of fools, but Lucy would be the one to see what was inside. She managed to easily open the chest, since the female henchmen left it slightly open, and a large bag of money was inside. Clearly, this the reward that Matsurika arrogantly added to the flyer.

Lucy turned her head to see a certain blue-eyed dragon slayer ask her in a curious tone, still kinda confused by the fact that she showed up here, "What's your story, Blondie? Why were you brought to this island?"

The Celestial Spirit Wizard replied in a slightly irked tone, looking somewhat annoyed, "Don't call me Blondie, and my name is Lucy Heartfilia! Your hair is blond, too. I came to Emblaze Island because a red-haired merchant wanted to sell this red book to me. I found the flyer in the book, and she said I could give her 60,000 jewels after the job was done. It's still shocking to know that there are creeps who would send their threats and ransom notes through job requests."

Sting told her in a somewhat annoyed manner, knowing who would be quirky enough to put her problems on someone else's shoulders, "Let me guess. Kira Blazia is the one who had to bother you about this. Well, you can keep the money. Rogue and I were only here for the Fire Crystal that Kira wanted to keep out of the enemy's hands, and I'll make her apologize for putting you through this mess. Also, tell Natsu that he still owes me a rematch."

As the light dragon slayer calmly told Rogue that they could head back to Sabertooth now, Lucy kindly told the guys to wait. She sighed while starting to explain that Natsu was someone who she didn't want to see for a while, letting the dragon slayers know about how he rejected her after she flirted with him for seven months, and Lucy started to frown a bit when she brought up how this job caused her to feel happy. The girl with cocoa brown eyes told the males about how Erza even knew about how Natsu had feelings for her, and Lucy couldn't even get that info much earlier from the scarlet-haired woman.

Lucy didn't want to go back to Fairy Tail so soon, especially since she recently arrived in the town of Kasai, and her eyes slightly watered when she told Sting that she just wanted to be around people who she could trust. Lucy may have just met Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney, two people who she hardly knew, but Sting did save her from getting stabbed by one of Matsurika's teammates. Lucy felt like she needed to really thank Sting for keeping her from getting impaled by a sword, which was something to definitely show gratitude for, and let's just say that a great place for tourism had some delicious ways for her to thank him.

"Just so you know, I'm Sting Eucliffe. I'm the guild master of Sabertooth, and there is no enemy who can cause a problem for the best dragon slayer in-" Sting told Lucy in a confident tone as he introduced himself to her, his stomach growling in hunger before he could try flexing his muscles.

Rogue commented in a kind manner, sounding slightly amused, "It seems like your stomach is now ready to bother you, Sting."

Sting groaned while thinking about how his hunger was mainly caused by having to wait behind a rock for several hours, as he really needed to steal that Fire Crystal for Kira, and he actually wished that the quirky merchant was here for him to make her buy some food. That would be a nice form of compensation, since Sting once warned Kira to not get into any matters that would end up leading to possible hostage situations, but Sting would have to deal with downside of hearing that green-eyed girl make some snarky remarks about him eating up so much time with getting the Fire Crystal.

Lucy blushed a light shade of pink while her stomach growled as well, since she hadn't eaten earlier in the evening, and the long boat ride coupled with the fighting had caused her stomach to demand food. She giggled in a somewhat embarrassed manner while her stomach growled more, as the three mages could start to detect the smells of different food being cooked in the various restaurants, and Lucy started walking down one of the streets that had been paved in cobblestone. Sting and Rogue chose to follow her, the light dragon slayer going to grab the money that Lucy almost forgot to bring with her, and it seemed like Lucy managed to find some new friends.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 3? Feel free to share your thoughts on it.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Shopping At Sunset**

* * *

Lucy and the twin dragon slayers were currently sitting down at a red round table that was outside on the patio of a shop that sold rice balls, all three mages liking their red plates that had rice balls on them, but Lucy liked how she could chat with the two guys while they'd all get to see the sunset come to an end. Even though the sky would probably get dark to indicate that nighttime wasn't too far away, Lucy actually felt like this evening was filled with the most fun that she could ever have in her whole life. After all, she did invent a somewhat fun ride by using a fireball to propel herself through the air.

Lucy was quite surprised to hear that Sting and Rogue decided to get propelled on to Emblaze Island earlier, purposely telling Kira to aim a high-level spell of Fire Magic at their feet, and the two males were sent flying from the harbor that was near the Sabertooth. That explained how they got to the island earlier without even seeming like they went through motion sickness, as a dragon slayer would feel very ill from being on any kind of moving vehicle, but how would they get back? Lucy had instructed Kira to go back to the Sabertooth guild, and she probably wouldn't be on her way to Kasai Town right now.

Sting smiled a bit while he looked at Lucy, simply liking how she wore a red shirt that had ruffles at the bottom while wearing black shorts to match, and he actually thought that she looked kinda cute. However, he didn't really think it was necessary for Lucy to treat him and Rogue to rice balls with her reward money. She mainly did it to relieve herself and Sting of their hunger, which was nice, but Sting never liked seeing someone have to spend cash on him. He usually wanted to be the one doing that, as it would make him seem like a cool gentleman, but at least he got some food.

He thought about how Lucy's fire spells were pretty awesome, as he never expected to see a fire-based shield that could bounce flames back at an enemy, and Sting thought that her fireballs could end up being as strong as the flames that Natsu could produce. Of course, that would probably take time. Fire Magic was a pretty good type of magic for Lucy to be using, as she could improve its power to where some of her flames could burn through dense metal with ease, but would Lucy really be able to handle it? The larger spells could be difficult to control, after all.

Speaking of fire, however, Sting still couldn't believe that Natsu rejected Lucy after seven months of her flirting. The blue-eyed male felt like the fire dragon slayer was pretty dumb for not telling Lucy about who he loved from the very beginning, as that would've just given Lucy plenty of time to try dating someone else, and Natsu could've at least tried to drop Lucy some hints about not being into her. Instead, it seemed like Natsu was letting the blonde-haired mage stupidly flirt with him for months. She wasn't going to get any good results from doing that, and Sting became concerned while he felt like Lucy needed to hear some kind words.

"Look, Lucy. Natsu is a dense dork, and you should think about having feelings for someone else. There's no reason to feel sad about a guy who didn't even bother to tell you about his feelings in the first month where you started flirting with him." Sting explained to her while hoping that she wouldn't always be depressed about the fire dragon slayer, looking like he was trying to be helpful.

Lucy replied while smiling softly, before she frowned a bit, "Well, it's still the first day of me being rejected by him. Maybe I can get over it after a few weeks or months, but it's not just him I'm upset about. If Erza was really my friend, she could've told me that I had no shot with him."

The Celestial Spirit Wizard took a moment to look down at the pink Fairy Tail guild mark that was on the back of her right hand, frowning as she wondered if it would be good to just leave Fairy Tail tonight, and Lucy felt slightly conflicted. She thought about how there were many good memories that she had in Fairy Tail, despite the daily brawls that would get quite rowdy, and there were people like Wendy who she didn't want to leave behind. At the same time, though, Lucy did have to think about what was best for her own self-interest.

She had to be like Kira, thinking in the mindset of a merchant who wanted every decision to be a good one that would also come with satisfaction, and Lucy really wanted to feel some more happiness in her life. It wasn't like she could just join a team, since none of the teams besides Team Natsu wanted any changes to their groups in the Fairy Tail guild, and Lucy really felt like she'd just be unhappy with Fairy Tail. However, this was only the first day of her heart being broken. Things could probably get better, even though she didn't feel like anything would make her be cheerful in that guild.

Lucy looked up from her hand for a moment to see that Sting and Rogue gave her some calm smiles, as they tried to assure her that one rejection was not the end of the world for her, and she blinked her cocoa brown eyes at the two dragon slayers for a moment. Lucy took a glance at her surroundings to see that some people were eating food while others were dancing, some people even spinning batons that were lit with flames on both ends, and there were tourists who found joy in the simple task of buying merchandise in the town of Kasai.

This was a different town with a different atmosphere, having tourism thrive while drama wasn't a big issue, and Lucy could feel better by joining in on the fun. She got up from the table while trying to move her body in a manner that was similar to hula dancing, even though she moved from side to side at a quicker pace than the people who were hula dancing across the street to some music being played in a nearby store, and Sting felt the need to laugh in an amused manner at Lucy's dancing skills. He wasn't any better of a dancer, but Lucy's fast hula dancing was kinda funny to watch.

Sting watched Lucy pick up the bag of jewels that had been on the ground, seeing that she clearly wanted to spend some money at this festival, and Lucy took out what appeared to just be five-thousand jewels. She began to smile a bit more while walking away from the table, possibly heading towards one of the concession stands, and Sting felt the need to follow her while he easily grabbed the large bag of cash. Rogue got up from the table as well, looking quite calm about this situation, and he liked seeing someone be a bit happier instead of looking depressed.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Team Natsu was currently sitting down at a table in the guild, the three remaining members looking pretty happy about how the job they did earlier in the day was handled so smoothly, and Lisanna was also sitting with them. In fact, she went out on the job with the team. Natsu smiled happily at her while he was pretty glad that she used her Animal Soul: Tigress Take-Over to harshly slash at an enemy, quite proud of her power, and the fire dragon slayer also felt that this evening would be pretty calm. After all, what did he have to worry about?

Natsu felt like this was the best day of his life, since this was the first job that he was able to handle with his white-haired girlfriend, and the fire dragon slayer really thought that Lisanna's chemistry with him was pretty good. She even planned on buying him a nice feast of food that he could have as a reward for how they completed their first job together, and the cute girl with blue eyes would even give Natsu a kiss. He liked to kiss Lisanna's lips, really satisfied with how they were very soft, and she was a very good girlfriend.

Talking with Lisanna for the past seven months had made Natsu see that they could get along quite well, as she always laughed at the jokes that he would tell, and Lisanna really liked Natsu's confident personality. He wasn't afraid to take on opponents, even if they were twice his size, and Natsu also had that goofy side to him. He once pushed a table to the left while his right foot touched a banana peel that had been left on the guildhall's floor overnight, and Natsu comically slipped on it. That was quite funny for Lisanna to see, especially since it was one of the oldest jokes ever created, and Natsu also laughed about it.

As they started to have a little conversation about what they'd eat for dinner, Gray glanced over at Fairy Tail's front doors to see that they were still closed. An entire hour had passed while Lucy hadn't shown up to the guild, which really made Gray be somewhat worried, and the black-haired mage had also not seen Lucy when the team walked by one of her apartment's windows. The lights in her apartment were all turned off, signaling that she clearly was not home, but Gray had no idea about where Lucy went to. She wasn't even on the nearby street where girls would shop for cute clothes, and that was quite weird.

Erza was curious about why Gray was so focused on the front doors, prompting her brown eyes to glance around the guildhall for a few seconds, and something was certainly weird. Lucy was currently absent right now, not even leaving a note to inform the team about where she went, and Erza knew that the team planned to also let Lucy have an equal portion of the money. After all, didn't she always have issues with paying rent to the landlady? Erza thought that Lucy wouldn't have gone out on a job by herself, even though she did, and a calm look was on her face while her attention shifted to Natsu.

"Natsu, did you see Lucy at all when we were walking back to the guild?" Erza calmly asked him, feeling slightly worried.

The fire dragon slayer replied as he began to think for a moment, having a doubtful facial expression, "No, Erza. I didn't see Lucy. Maybe she went to the bakery to buy food, or maybe she took a train somewhere."

Erza looked over at Fairy Tail's request board to see that eleven flyers were on it while the board didn't look very empty, and Mirajane Strauss walked by without even commenting on the topic. That white-haired barmaid was the person who would gossip about relationships or other things that people were doing, but she was also Makarov's assistant who needed to stamp jobs with the Fairy Tail insignia. Mira would also keep records of each mage taking jobs, even writing down what kind of job they were setting out to do, and she didn't even talk to Lucy today.

She gave Gray a quick look of assurance, realizing that Lucy could've just gone shopping in a town that was past Magnolia, and the scarlet-haired mage even thought about how there was no need to worry. People could go shopping by themselves, as Erza herself even liked shopping alone, and there would be no cause for alarm. In fact, she thought about going over to Lucy's apartment tomorrow for a nice chat. She wanted to talk with the blonde-haired mage about what happened this morning, thinking that Lucy would want comfort from her, but that would not be the case.

Gray thought about how Lucy was rejected earlier today, even thinking about how she ran out of the guild, and Lucy really didn't take the rejection well. She probably wanted to be away from the other members of Team Natsu right now, wanting to get some peace in her life, and the blonde-haired mage would possibly be back tomorrow. Lucy had not gotten her guild mark erased, which meant that she would still be a member of Fairy Tail, but she'd probably need some space. Gray would gladly give Lucy some space, not planning to bug her about how she was rejected, but Gray's ears were soon bothered by a certain fire dragon slayer.

"Lisanna, let's eat lots of food tonight! It'll be awesome to have dinner with you, and we can have it at my house!" Natsu happily exclaimed with an excited grin, before getting up from his seat to go hug his sweet girlfriend.

The blue-eyed girl responded in a sweet tone, as her cheeks blushed a light shade of pink, "It'll be good for us to spend time together, Natsu."

* * *

 **30 minutes later, in Kasai Town...**

Lucy held a brown basket in her hands while it was filled with boxes of food that she purchased from some of the concession stands in Kasai Town, and she smiled happily while going down one of the island's roads that led to the southern pier. That pier was not on the same side of the island where the fiery fight took place, and boats were near some of the pier's wooden docks. Lucy seemed like she was having fun, liking how she could buy so much food, and she also thought about buying some new clothes. After all, the females on this island did look somewhat fashionable.

As Lucy thought about going into a small clothing store that was nearby, her brown eyes twinkling a bit from seeing a nice pink dress, she soon lost focus from the sound of Sting eating one of the red cupcakes that was in a small stack he balanced in his right hand. The light dragon slayer held the bag of jewels in his left hand while he bit into one of the Volcano Cupcakes, which was actually a cherry cupcake covered with hot strawberry frosting, and Sting soon consumed the entire cupcake in a delighted manner. The people in Kasai Town could make some good desserts, which would explain why the two cupcakes were each priced at 2,000 jewels.

Sting watched Lucy take some steps towards the clothing store, hearing her giggle in an excited manner, and the blue-eyed male kinda liked how Lucy was being interested in some clothes instead of being sad about Natsu. He thought that it would be good for her to not feel totally sad on the day where she was rejected, as that could just lead to weeks of Lucy becoming a depressed person, and anything that could bring her some joy would make Sting feel like he and Rogue were not just wasting their time. After all, making Lucy feel good would be Sting's way of apologizing for how Kira got the Celestial Spirit Wizard involved in her mess.

On top of that, Kira made that deal about the book with Lucy on the same day where she got rejected. Sting did understand that Lucy ultimately chose to take the job, though, so he couldn't have any real reason to scold his red-haired teammate. She only found someone to handle a troublesome problem for her, and Sting was glad that neither Kira or Lucy ended up dead. The job could've really turned into a dangerous hostage situation, if Lucy didn't comply with the orders of Matsurika's henchmen, and Sting was just glad that it was now over.

He turned his attention back to Lucy, who was currently looking disappointed while a woman with blue hair styled in two pigtails decided to stand in front of the entrance, and Sting took notice of how this woman wore a tropical green dress with green sandals to match. She had dark green eyes as well, folding her arms in a stern manner, and the woman held out her left hand to possibly indicate that some kind of invitation was needed for entering the store. If this was supposedly a store with good fashion, though, then why would the owner have it on an island?

"I'm sorry, but it looks like you don't have any of the Rainbow Crystals. You probably don't know that certain stores like this one carry clothing with the brand name of Samantha Kalos, the newest person to achieve great fame in the fashion world. Since she's rumored to judge people by their skill levels and not by money, some stores use Rainbow Crystals to determine a customer's entry and what they may purchase." The blue-haired employee explained to Lucy in a calm manner, not moving an inch.

Lucy replied while looking somewhat bummed, frowning a bit, "I should've definitely bought a guidebook to check Kasai's Town rules about shopping for clothes."

Sting spoke up as he began to grin confidently, handing the large bag of money to Rogue while he proceeded to pull out the red Fire Crystal from the right pocket of his blue vest, "Well, this one should be acceptable."

He showed a small red crystal to the employee, taking notice of how it was shaped like a rhombus, and her dark green eyes widened in amazement. That was the Fire Crystal, an item that was actually used in the S-Class trials of certain guilds, and some mages actually sought out the different crystals. They were in certain parts of Fiore, even possibly being in an underground cave, and there were actually duplicates of these crystals. Kira only wanted the one that was placed on the red pedestal, feeling no need to go deeper into the volcano for more, and different-colored crystals were associated with different types of magic.

The female employee decided to step aside for a moment, smiling kindly at Lucy, but she told the blonde-haired girl that having only one of the Rainbow Crystals allowed her to buy dresses that cost 10,000 jewels or less. That was actually a rule made by Samantha Kalos, not by the fashion store, and the fans of her clothing line who worked in retail simply felt like they needed to uphold her rules. Lucy proceeded to go into the small clothing store while Sting let out a sigh of slight annoyance, and he wasn't going to even try to comprehend why people made special rules in the world of fashion.

As Sting put the Fire Crystal back into the right pocket of his blue vest, he turned around to look at the sea. The sun had actually set 20 minutes ago, now signifying that it was currently nighttime, and the cocky dragon slayer thought about how his red Exceed named Lector must've been really worried about him. Sting was gone for most of the day, only telling Lector that he was going to Emblaze Island, and Sting was the type of the guy who would only take like ten minutes to defeat some enemies in an easy situation. At least he'd return to Sabertooth soon, though.

Rogue decided to calmly walk towards a concession stand that was situated near one of the docks, his nose detecting the scent of fish from it, and the black-haired male kindly smiled at the thought of buying some fish for his green Exceed named Frosch. Rogue actually took a wallet from one of Matsurika's henchmen that had been defeated earlier in the volcano, seeing the henchman regain consciousness and leave it behind as a way to beg for mercy, and Rogue kept the wallet in the left pocket of his grey pants. He walked away from Sting while thinking about how this day was hardly boring, and its only downside would be how he and Sting would need to take a boat back to Sabertooth.

* * *

 **40 minutes later...**

After trying on three different dresses and only buying one of them because of how she wanted to not overspend her money, Lucy walked out of the clothing store with a small white shopping bag in her hands. It contained a tropical light green dress that was strapless, similar to the one that the blue-haired employee was wearing, but this dress had small clouds designed on the bottom of it. Lucy thought that the clouds looked really adorable, which caused her to buy the dress, and she took 7,000 jewels from the bag to make the purchase be complete.

Lucy and Sting started to look out at the darkened ocean, before they could see some stars in the sky, and this was quite a crazy day. Lucy had never expected that she'd get rejected by Natsu, run into Kira, and travel to a faraway island in the same day. In fact, she wasn't really supposed to be the person traveling to the warm island. She only got lucky because of the main enemy having henchmen who couldn't remember a description of who they needed to abduct, and it seemed like things were starting to look up for Lucy.

There would be the tough task of returning to Fairy Tail, as there were people who she really didn't want to see, but Lucy looked down at her hands for a moment while feeling like she became somewhat stronger. Her mind went back to the thought of shooting fireballs from her mouth, almost like how Natsu could shoot out fire, but Lucy felt like she needed to be smarter with how she used her flames. If Matsurika could wield a sword that had quite a dense blade, then other criminals could end up showing off skills that would be more dangerous. Despite that, however, Lucy would become strong.

She gave Sting a happy smile, really glad that he was able to save her life today, and Lucy felt like she'd really need to return the favor someday. Saving someone from danger was quite a big deal, especially since Lucy was about to stand up as her opponent ran towards her, and Sting kept her from possibly getting stabbed in the heart. He may have seemed like he was somewhat annoyed by her personality, but he certainly respected Lucy for keeping one of Sabertooth's guild members out of harm's way. After all, she didn't necessarily have to do that.

Sting began to look at Lucy in a somewhat cocky manner, grinning while he decided to flex his right arm for her to see his muscles, and Lucy slightly giggled at how Sting was trying to impress her. He merely took her giggling as a compliment, thinking that she was very happy to be in the presence of Fiore's best wizard, and Sting felt like he could enjoy spending some more time with Lucy. She wasn't the type of girl who would fall all over him, which would be somewhat hard for him to deal with, but Sting did like how Lucy was quite dedicated to getting a mission done. He also liked how she seemed confident about using the red book during the battle, too.

"Hey, Lucy. The boat that departs to my town will be leaving Kasai's harbor soon, and I just want you to know that I'll probably visit Magnolia sometime. If henchmen are there to hurt you, I'll just bust them up." Sting explained to the Celestial Spirit Wizard in a calm tone, looking very sure of himself.

Lucy asked him in a somewhat disappointed manner, even though she realized that it was nighttime, "You're leaving already, Sting? How do you think Kira will react to the crazy news about the mission?"

Sting informed her with a kind smile while he took the Fire Crystal out of his vest's left pocket, handing the red item to Lucy, "You two made the deal, and you did mention that you need to pay her for the book. I'm sure she'll be happy to hear you explain everything to her, and you might get used to how she likes making smart remarks."

He dropped the bag of money on to the ground while proceeding to run to the dock where Rogue was waiting for him, not really looking forward to taking a boat ride back to Sabertooth, and Sting waved goodbye to Lucy as he ran to join his friend. This had been quite an exciting evening for Lucy, who thought that the whole day would end up being the worst day of her life, and the next few days could be just as unpredictable. She held the Fire Crystal and the red spell book in her left hand while proceeding to put the small shopping bag into the large bag of money, and spending some of that reward money allowed Lucy to have enough space for the bag that contained the dress.

She turned her back to Sting and Rogue while walking away with the bag of money, thinking that the boat departing for Magnolia would be on the other side of the island, and Lucy noticed the brown basket on the ground. She thought that it was accidentally left behind in the clothing store, only to see that it was placed on the cobblestone street, and Lucy didn't see when Sting sneaked into the clothing store for the sake of grabbing the basket. He took it out of the store while proceeding to put some of the chocolate desserts in a carefree tourist's basket without telling Lucy, which was somewhat underhanded, and Lucy slightly clenched her left fist.

However, Lucy took another look at the basket to see that it was restocked with the Volcano Cupcakes that Sting bought earlier. There were also some pink cakes and sweet red apples in the basket as well. Lucy picked up one of the apples to bite into it, tasting something that oddly reminded her of cherry filling, and the pink filling let her know that Kasai Town's apples were made by tourists who wielded Plant Magic. They were helping out with the festival, selling the red apples at concession stands that sold sweets, and the surprise of cherry filling was able to attract many customers.

As Lucy moved a cupcake aside, the sound of a ship caught her ears. She looked up from the basket to see that a boat arrived near the dock where Sting and Rogue were standing, and it was scheduled to take all passengers to the port town where Sabertooth resided. Lucy felt like running up to Sting, wanting to tell him goodbye while also thanking him for the desserts that looked very tasty, but she glanced towards the area where the broken dock was located to faintly see that a distant boat was sailing across the sea to reach Kasai Town. Even though the boat would probably take Lucy back to Magnolia, she could say that it was good to have this short vacation.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 4? Any kind of feedback on the chapter will be appreciated. I'm really happy about writing this story. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Desert's Treasure, Part 1**

* * *

Lucy walked into the Fairy Tail guild with a smile on her face, still feeling pretty happy about her little adventure that took place in Kasai, and she was ready to get her day started. It had been two days since Lucy first got the red book, quite glad that its Fire Magic could be very useful in some situations, and the blonde-haired mage was very excited about the spells that were in it. In fact, she was able to read more of the book's lines that were in a cherry red color. She was still unable to read the words in pink, however, but Lucy didn't mind that at all.

Her third spell of Fire Magic had been known as Fiery Shot, and this spell simply allowed Lucy to shoot out a large beam of fire from her mouth. It looked somewhat similar to the Fire Dragon's Roar attack that Natsu could use, but Lucy's flames were entirely red while Natsu's flames could also be orange. Lucy used the third spell yesterday on a simple job where a client wanted some large bales of hay to be burnt down, and she was pretty glad to see that it had a good amount of power to it. She even struck some of the hay bales from a distance, which was cool, and Lucy was able to finish the job.

She had also glanced at the red book while walking home last night to see that there was a spell of Fire Magic that really caught her interest, thinking that it would be pretty cool to use, and it was known as Fire Trick. The spell caused a red ball of fire to appear in Lucy's right hand, having a high amount of heat, and the book instructed Lucy to throw the ball on to the ground. Lucy followed the instructions to see the ball bounce upward after it hit the ground, watching it brightly glow for a moment, and the fiery ball quickly exploded! The explosion comically roasted a bird that flew near it while also creating harsh waves of heat for a moment, so that was quite a hot spell.

Lucy's cocoa brown eyes were filled with calmness as she headed to the request board, paying no mind to what any members of Team Natsu were doing, and she was ready to see what kind of jobs would be available. Despite the fact that yesterday's job only gave her 10,000 jewels, Lucy wasn't really doing it for the money. Even though she would need to pay Kira for the spell book, Lucy still had enough cash left to pay this month's rent. She was planning to handle a job that would make her feel like it was part of a great adventure, but what task would be good to handle?

Lucy's brown eyes scanned the flyers that were on the request board, seeing that there were many different jobs for her to take, but she wanted the best one. There was a job that involved taking down a criminal who used Lightning Magic while being an evil priest who had a devious priestess at his side, but that didn't really seem appealing to Lucy right now. She pointed at some of the flyers as she looked somewhat indecisive, finding it hard to just pick a certain job, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard was soon tapped on her left shoulder by someone who liked the green dress she had purchased.

"Good morning, Lucy. Nice dress, by the way." Gray told her in a calm tone while smiling, watching her turn around to face him.

Lucy replied in a kind manner while smiling a bit, feeling that Gray was the only person in her former team who had nothing to do with Natsu loving Lisanna, "Good morning to you, too, Gray. Thanks for saying that. I bought it two days ago."

Gray told her in a calm manner while his dark blue eyes widened a bit, as that was the day when he had been worried about Lucy, "Well, just don't be quick to desert us. I was concerned when you didn't show up to the guild for the rest of that day."

The blonde-haired girl moved some flyers around while she was still facing Gray, simply watching him walk over to a chair and sit down, but something interesting would happen when Lucy turned around. She faced the request board to see that a flyer was behind the one that talked about the evil priest, and the uncovered flyer spoke of how there was a small cave in the Haina Desert that needed to be checked out. It could be filled with a vast trove of treasure, as the client thought that the cave was obviously hiding something, but that rumor could be false.

She thought about how the Haina Desert was another place that had been unknown to her, as Team Natsu never explored that part of Fiore, and Lucy also had no clue about how to get there. Despite that, however, she wanted to have a good adventure while thinking that it would also give her more time away from Natsu. Turning her head for a moment to see Natsu and Lisanna make out was quite a bad sight for Lucy's eyes, and she soon faced the request board again while gently clenching her fists. This would be a pretty good job for her to handle, and Lucy wouldn't be alone.

If she was going to a desert, then Scorpio would be the best Celestial Spirit for her to use in that situation. After all, Scorpio did specialize in using sand as a weapon. Lucy felt like the desert would also be filled with harsh sunlight, perfect for her spells of Fire Magic to get some power boosts, and it would be a very wise idea to use fiery attacks in a place where they'd get tons of heat. On top of that fact, Fire Magic would be useful for creating explosions on the sand. Caves sometimes had hidden areas around them, and there could be a secret way of getting into that small cave.

Lucy felt like this job would be really good for her to do, which caused her to unpin the flyer from the request board, and the blonde-haired girl ran out of the guild while she didn't even care that Mirajane was behind the bar. Lucy wouldn't tell her that she'd be handling a job in the Haina Desert, as she didn't want the lovely barmaid to gossip about it to Natsu or Lisanna, and Lucy would be ready to handle this new job. Even though she felt like it would give her tons of excitement, would Lucy have to handle this job without anyone else around?

* * *

 **One hour later, at Lucy's apartment...**

Ever since 7 o'clock in the morning, Lucy had been wearing the green dress that she purchased in Kasai Town. She felt like it was one of the best dresses that she could ever buy, even though she really wanted that pink one, and that made the blonde-haired mage think about the fact that Sting showed a Rainbow Crystal to one of the employees. If these crystals were so important to fashion stores and mages, then would it really be a good idea for Lucy to go around Fiore and try to find some of them? That could be an adventure in itself, and it would definitely give Lucy some time away from Fairy Tail.

Lucy didn't get rid of her guild mark today because of how she felt like it would be too early in the situation to do that, and the feeling of rejection was still in her mind. Lucy couldn't forget about it completely, as it did happen very recently, but the fact that she could find jobs that would give her happiness had really caused her to smile some more. In fact, she was actually thinking that it would be fun to explore the Haina Desert. If Lucy possibly found the desert to be near the ocean, then she could just try making a sandcastle while imagining herself on the shore of a beach.

After handling the task in the small cave, Lucy could just walk around the vast desert to see if there were any nearby towns. People could set up towns near deserts, as that heat was said to be quite good for selling hot foods, and some people in towns near deserts could even fry eggs on plates during the daytime. Walking around in the desert could be very exhausting, but Lucy would also get the chance to train in desert heat. She recently had to battle an opponent who could wield very strong flames, and dealing with desert heat could help Lucy feel like an enemy's flames wouldn't stand up to that hotness.

She was currently sitting at the brown kitchen table while the large bag of jewels was on the chair that had been across from her, merely thinking about the best way to reach the Haina Desert, and Lucy let out a slight groan of frustration from having to think about areas that had sandy terrain. She could've asked Mirajane or Makarov about its location when she was at the Fairy Tail guild, but it seemed like the blonde-haired girl would now be paying the price for not doing that. Lucy felt like she could just go to the train station and ask one of the workers about it, but would fate bring her another option?

As Lucy felt like she would just have to go on this mission alone without any knowledge of what to expect, three soft knocks at her door snapped the blonde-haired mage out of her thoughts. She picked up the bag of money while thinking that someone showed up at her doorstep to sell her something, similar to what Kira did two days ago, and Lucy would see if she wanted anything. The person chose to knock five more times, causing Lucy to look somewhat irked, and the fact that the person was knocking in a rhythm had made Lucy feel like they were trying to be Fiore's most annoying person.

"Hello, there. I'm here to collect the money, Lucy. I knock on wood to wish that you'll be successful, and that helps my sales stay up." Kira Blazia stated in a happy tone of voice, smiling while her hazel eyes twinkled with delight.

Lucy replied in a somewhat irked manner, attempting to say the words under her breath, "Knock too many times, and your wishes may backfire."

As Lucy handed the bag of jewels to Kira while starting to look more curious, she asked her quirky friend in a calm manner, "Hey, do you know where the Haina Desert is?"

"Yeah. I was there yesterday, Lucy. Some bandits gave me so much cash for a few swords, and it was hilarious to see them run off. You should at least try to kill the merchant, instead of getting yourself cleaned out. Anyway, you can take the train there."

Lucy pulled out the brown flyer from the left pocket of her green dress to gently put it in front of Kira's face, allowing her to read the job description, and Kira looked quite relaxed while confidently saying that she saw the small cave near an isolated part of the desert. People supposedly didn't go into it because of the fact that only their hands could fit into the hole, and they'd come out with absolutely nothing. That tiny cave was hiding something, as Kira could feel that even she had missed out on the treasure, but she'd have no issue with Lucy trying to get it.

The merchant with red hair took 60,000 jewels out of the bag while beginning to grin in a satisfied manner, pretty happy that Lucy could pay for the red spell book, and she handed the large bag of money back to Lucy. Kira simply flipped through the money while counting again, making sure it was exactly sixty-thousand jewels, and she was interrupted by the feeling of Lucy tapping her right shoulder. Lucy watched Kira turn around while she pulled the red Fire Crystal out of the same pocket that the flyer was in, handing the crystal to Kira, but Lucy was very surprised to see her friend give it back.

Kira kindly assumed that Lucy was doing the ancient challenge involving the Rainbow Crystals, thinking that she was going around Fiore to get some of them, and Lucy shook her head in a disapproving manner. Kira brought up how there were many mages who would give up on that challenge, even at Emblaze Island, and Lucy seemed like she wanted to have a fun adventure. Lucy put the bag of money inside of her apartment while she went into her bedroom to get the red book, ready to go out to the Haina Desert, and Kira simply giggled while she slyly pulled out her Lacrima Communications Crystal from the right pocket of her brown shorts. She wanted to tell a certain someone about today's news, but she also wanted Lucy to find out the Fire Crystal's nice surprise.

* * *

 **20 minutes later, on a path...**

Sting and his red Exceed named Lector were currently walking on a sandy path that was bordered by large rocks, needing to handle a client's request about seeing some bandits bringing terror to the Haina Desert, and the light dragon slayer was actually taking this job to make the people in the nearby town of Nichibotsu know his name. He had gone there before to get some coffee, only to find out that the prices for sugary coffee were quite high, and one man even had the nerve to rudely tell Sting that the town would never need to thank him.

There were some places in Fiore where the Sabertooth guild wasn't very famous, such as Magnolia Town, and Sting also didn't like how the restaurants in the town of Nichibotsu would use Earth Crystals to determine how much food customers would get. This was actually due to the fact that bandits from the desert had enjoyed looting the town on a daily basis, wanting to pillage it for the sake of having high amounts of food, and that poor town was really suffering. Someone had to make those bandits thievery come to a halt, and Sting told himself that he'd be the one to do it.

As Sting and Lector kept walking down the sandy path that led to the town, seeing some dust clouds go past them for a moment, the duo groaned in frustration at how the sunlight was harshly shining down on this part of Fiore. The desert was quite a hot area, spreading that heat to its closest locations, and Sting was glad to be walking on a rocky path that would lead straight into town. Walking on sand would have certain disadvantages, such as how it could shift very easily if it was too soft, and sand could also end up being dangerously hot.

This wasn't exactly going to be a nice trip to the beach, since Sting found sand in the desert to be a real annoyance, and even going into the desert with Lector wouldn't really calm his irked demeanor. Sting did take this job for the purpose of wanting recognition, which was a somewhat admirable motive, so he couldn't really blame the client who created the flyer. It would be good to take down those bandits swiftly, though, and Sting lightly clenched his left fist while thinking that his Holy Nova attack would be the best way to end the mission fast.

Sting and Lector continued to walk while seeing a town in the distance, taking notice of how there were some people using Earth Magic to create small rocks in the sand, and the two males were certainly not seeing a mirage. Nichibotsu Town was real, being known as the sandy town for travelers to either spend money or take a rest before going into the Haina Desert, and Sting would be pretty glad to get there. He felt like trying to find some free food, but spending money would also be good. His pockets were filled with at least 50,000 jewels, but his blue vest was containing something that would get rid of his somewhat annoyed mood.

"Sting, come in! Sting! I'm in the Haina Desert, and I'm lost!" Kira Blazia exclaimed in a scared manner, speaking from the Lacrima Communication Crystal that was in the right pocket of Sting's blue vest.

The light dragon slayer exclaimed to Lector while he took out the Lacrima Communications Crystal, taking a glimpse at it to see Kira's face, "How many situations can this one merchant get herself into?! We're on our way to Nichibotsu Town, and we'll have to explore that desert as well!"

Lector replied with a confident look on his face, folding his arms in an arrogant manner, "Sting-kun, we'll definitely save Kira-san! Those chumps won't be able to deal with the best wizard in Fiore, and they'll regret messing with mages from Sabertooth!"

Sting decided to start running to the town of Nichibotsu, thinking that Kira's life was once again at risk, but he really had no clue that she actually contacted him from a cafe in the town of Magnolia. Kira actually hoped that her little lie would cause Lucy and Sting to eventually meet up, since they were both on their way to the Haina Desert, and the blue-eyed dragon slayer felt like those bandits were going to get pummeled. This was another exciting day for the great Sting Eucliffe, going into what he thought would be a hostage situation, and he was starting to smile.

As Sting and Lector could see the town up ahead, though, Lector chose to start flying while Sting ran alongside him. The two males couldn't stop themselves from running into the town, almost colliding with some tourists who had been passing by, and Sting was really eager to save Kira. Him and Lector stopped for a moment to see that they were on a street that would just come to a dead end, and going either left or right would just lead to a different street. The town had houses on one side while restaurants were built on the other side, and this sandy area was quite vast.

Lector widened his eyes for a moment from the sight of someone's dropped guidebook on the ground, thinking that it could belong to Kira, and the red Exceed flew downward for a moment to pick up the orange guidebook. He handed it to Sting, who wasted no time with opening it, and the blond-haired male turned a few pages to see a map of this area. According to the color codes on that map, the Haina Desert colored in orange was directly north of Nichibotsu Town. The town itself was oddly colored in teal, but Sting mostly just cared about the desert's location.

He flipped through some more of the pages to see that there was also a map of the Haina Desert, seeing that most of it was in a light orange color while other parts of the desert were colored in a darker shade of orange, and Sting found that to be pretty weird. Despite that, however, he planned on tracking down those bandits. He took a few sniffs of the air, really trying to find Kira's scent, and he could detect that it was lingering. Well, she actually went to the desert yesterday. It wasn't a huge surprise that Kira's scent was still around, as she wore cherry perfume that was quite strong, and Sting chose to run north towards the Haina Desert while looking pretty serious. Lector was pretty quick to follow him, also wanting to find Kira, but they were unknowingly being watched.

* * *

A man wearing an orange cloak and brown pants to match had been observing Sting from behind the corner of a building, finding it to be no mistake, and this man was actually one of the bandits that committed robberies in this town. He took a few steps forward while choosing to just watch the light dragon slayer and his Exceed run off into the desert, thinking that it would be a good idea to kill them later, and the dark guild in the desert would probably reward him with tons of money. After all, criminals also needed a way to make a living.

The criminal smirked evilly while his brown eyes noticed that one of his cloaked comrades was near a merchant's shop, and this brown-haired criminal chuckled to himself as he got down on his knees to create an arrow in the hot sand. He made a few arrows in the sand, actually, and they were all directed towards the Haina Desert. He was simply giving that signal to his ally, who would show it to the other two bandits who were in this town, and the arrows were only made when the prey of these criminals had arrived in Nichibotsu Town.

As he began to stand up with an evil facial expression, thinking about the best way to steal from Sting, the robber's train of thought was interrupted by the loud sound of the train's whistle. Even though this town was near a desert and a dirt path that led to the town, train tracks were still put down for people who didn't want to walk all the way from Magnolia. There was actually a tunnel that the train could come through to reach Nichibotsu Station, but the train's whistle in this situation was used for signifying that it was leaving the town.

The robber with messy brown hair grinned a bit while deciding to follow Sting into the desert, wanting to take all his money, but he was soon distracted by how he sensed a strong vibration of power from far away. Some mages, such as this man, could sense a mage's power from the moment that it was used. He actually picked up on how a certain Celestial Spirit Wizard with blonde hair accidentally used the spell known as Fire Trick, shooting the fireball out the window of a train, and the antagonistic man soon smirked a bit while he could feel the ground slightly shake from what was possibly a fiery explosion.

He felt like things were going to get really interesting, especially if the creator of that slight tremor was planning to explore the Haina Desert, and this unnamed criminal began to have thoughts about the possibility of getting to rob two mages in the same day. That would certainly cause him to most likely be the next guild master, as his comrades could think that he was extremely successful with the fights, and he just wanted to get more attention from the people who were in the guild known as Quicksand Tomb. Even though this man was eager to fight, the desert could end up making him experience a fiery fate.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 5? Feel free to give me feedback on it. Also, I want to do a shout-out to someone.**

MarSofTheGalaxies: My writing style may be reminiscent of someone else's, but my plot can be different. In fact, I think the author you mentioned was the one who inspired me to write this fanfic. Anyway, I hope that both you and her are liking it so far.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Desert's Treasure, Part 2**

* * *

Sting and Lector went quite far into the Haina Desert, currently standing in an area of the desert that had large rocks forming a circle, and the two males looked around while being somewhat unsure of their location. Sting went into the desert with Lector while simply going north, not even caring about the fact that he could probably find the bandits by going east or west, and he took a deep sniff of the sandy air in an attempt to track down Kira's scent. He thought that she would be in serious danger, despite the fact that she lied to him about that, and the light dragon slayer groaned a bit.

He opened up the orange guidebook that was in his left hand, turning to the pages that displayed the map of the Haina Desert, and seeing a picture of rocks in a circle let Sting know that he was in the southern part of the Haina Desert. The other parts of the desert were in a darker shade of orange, making Sting look a bit puzzled, and he decided to just keep heading north. It would be pretty good to just find Kira with this easy strategy, even though Sting and Lector would probably have their path end at a large rock wall, but it wouldn't be simple to find someone in a vast desert.

Lector flew down to the ground for a moment, only to scream in pain from how his feet didn't like the feeling of the hot sand, and he wasted no time with flying on to Sting's right shoulder. The sand blew around them while the sun sent down its rays of heat, really giving Haina Desert an atmosphere that was quite rough, and Sting started to walk north while he felt somewhat confident about Kira's location. If she wasn't directly north, then wouldn't she still run into him at some point? She could be running through the desert from its eastern half, and the mages would surely meet up.

As the blue-eyed male took a few more steps north, kicking a small rock quite far with his left foot, Sting took a few steps back when he saw the rock land on the golden sand. He was not surprised at how the rock was motionless on the ground, but it was very startling to see the rock begin sinking into some sand that appeared to be slightly darker. There appeared to be dark whirlpools of sand up ahead, spinning in a clockwise manner while they'd clearly suck up anything that they touched, and the fact that this desert had quicksand caused Sting to be alert.

He narrowed his blue eyes while deciding to turn west, as Kira once told him that selling goods in the western part of the Haina Desert had made her profits be at a high level, but Sting and Lector were soon caught off guard by the sight of a sand twister suddenly appearing in front of them! Sting groaned in slight annoyance from guessing that the bandits found him, smelling a stranger's scent in the air, and witnessing the brown-haired man in the orange cloak emerge from the sandstorm had been enough to inform Sting that he was being watched.

"All right, bandit. What have you done with Kira? Are you gonna tell me, or do I have to beat you up?" Sting asked in a stern manner while he put the guidebook in the left pocket of his blue vest, before charging up white light that would surround his hands.

The brown-haired man replied with a confused facial expression, "What are you talking about? I'm here to rob you, and I'll drag you back to my guild to get myself a nice promotion. Give me your money, or I'll do this the hard way."

Sting answered that order by firing his White Dragon's Roar at the bandit, sending him sliding back, and the blond-haired male made more white light surround his left fist. He didn't waste any time with lunging towards the robber, giving him quite a fierce punch to the face, and the criminal was sent rolling backwards while Sting began to confidently grin at him. He watched the man in cloak start to stand up, before seeing him stretch out his left hand, and Sting soon leaped back from the sight of sand swirling around for a moment to form an extremely large hand.

The sand hand slammed itself down on the ground, possibly attempting to crush Sting with its pressure, but Sting was right in front of the sand hand's middle finger. He used his Holy Nova attack on it, concentrating his magical power into his right fist, and a sphere of light surrounded Sting's fist while he slammed it down on the sandy creation. The sand hand's middle finger started to break apart, followed by Sting using his White Dragon's Roar on the large hand to greatly destroy it, and seeing it shatter into clumps of sand had made Sting smile more.

His happiness would only last for a moment, however, and Sting's foe soon placed his left hand down on the ground to trigger a powerful spell. He sent his magical power into the ground while evilly grinning at Sting, planning to send him down into some quicksand for a while, and he made some dark orange sand surround Sting's feet. This sand was quite dense, making Sting be unable to move, and the criminal made more of the dark sand rise up from the ground to cover Sting's body. The light dragon slayer was soon sucked down into a whirlpool of quicksand, taking Lector down with him, and the criminal had won.

He began to cheer while dancing around happily, thinking about how he'd just jump into the hole to follow Sting for the sake of capturing him, but this eager criminal wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. His quicksand hole was hasty with closing up and disappearing, leaving him with no way of following Sting, and he certainly didn't plan on sending himself down into the sands. They led down to a dimly lit maze that was said to contain treasure, but none of the criminals in Haina Desert would ever go down there because of how the quicksand whirlpools could appear in different places while they could troll people by making them fall into the same area repeatedly.

The brown-haired robber noticed that one of his comrades in a dark green cloak came along, hiding his face while only showing his messy black hair, and the criminal who fought Sting began to look nervous as he would have to explain himself. The smart bandits in the desert's dark guild liked to rob people and tie them up for the sake of holding them hostage, preventing them from escaping, but there seemed to be a clear reason why the man with messy brown hair couldn't get a promotion. In fact, he probably just made Sting have a chance at getting away.

"Sunahama, where's that dragon slayer you told me and the others about? Were you able to beat him, or did you just send him flying?" The black-haired man asked his comrade while smirking in a teasing manner, knowing that the guy with messy brown hair could be an arrogant klutz sometime.

Looking really frustrated, the robber replied while starting to avert his eyes from his friend's grin of possible satisfaction, "I think that I sent him down into the Haina Desert's stone ruins, sir."

That only caused the man in the green cloak to angrily close his eyes as he slapped his left palm against his face, regretting that he even taught the stupid robber how to use the spell known as Quicksand's Loot Hole, and that spell only needed to be used in the areas where treasure could be unearthed. It was never meant to be used as a spell for killing, since the Haina Desert was actually full of holes that were dug using Earth Magic, and hearing that Sting went down into sands made the criminal think that he'd get his hands on the treasure.

* * *

 **30 minutes later, in the Haina Desert...**

After getting off the train at the station in Nichibotsu Town, Lucy had asked one of the merchants about where she could find a tiny cave in the Haina Desert. The merchant kindly informed Lucy that the small cave was located in the eastern part of the desert, sharing Kira's fact about how the cave was in a rather isolated part of the desert, and there was actually a secret route that could help Lucy get into that cave. There were no specific details on where to find the route, however, and Lucy would simply have to find it on her own.

The Celestial Spirit Wizard was currently walking around the eastern side of the Haina Desert, looking for that small cave, and she stood near some jagged rocks that oddly formed the four corners of a square. There was something pretty suspicious about this place, especially since it was right next to a rock wall that had a tunnel for trains to travel through, and Lucy began to wonder about something. If treasure really was in this desert, then why would someone hide it so close to a place where trains passed through? After all, someone could easily dig up the treasure and hurry over to the train before it reached the tunnel.

Lucy looked around while she thought about how it would be nearly impossible to find a tiny cave, as there weren't any long walls that had any strange cracks in them, but her cocoa brown eyes soon noticed something. Kira never mentioned the jagged rocks that were in this part of the desert, possibly forgetting that detail, but the rock that formed the upper-left corner of the square seemed to weirdly have a crack at its base. This wasn't exactly a normal thing, so what was going on? Lucy thought about checking it out, but then she looked at the other jagged rocks to see if they also had cracks.

Lucy's facial expression became confident while she opened up the red spell book, ready to use the fifth spell, and it was known as Fiery Lava. This spell prompted Lucy to shoot out some red goop from her mouth, watching the red lava hit the upper-left rock while it bubbled at a boiling temperature, and the lava soon created a fiery explosion that was quite large! It sent Lucy sliding backwards while she could feel the intense waves of heat, liking how this volcanic spell was quite fiery, and the powerful spell caused the rock to break apart.

The hot sand around it began to break as well, almost like it was fake, and Lucy remembered how Gray once informed her that some mages could create fake rocks or fake terrain to hide things. Lucy took a few steps forward while realizing that the sand was hot, which was normal, but the sand in this part of the Haina Desert didn't feel very dense. She thought about the client's flyer spoke of a small cave, watching the sand around the broken rock start to fall apart, and the remaining sand had been surrounding a cave that had an entrance big enough for a person to only put their hand into it.

 _"I get it now. Someone probably used Earth Magic to create these rocks as a distraction, and they wanted to conceal the cave."_ Lucy thought to herself as she looked somewhat happy, ready to find the treasure.

Lucy said aloud to herself in a calm manner, walking towards the small cave, "All right. This is it."

She soon approached the cave, before kneeling down in front of it, and Lucy stretched out her right arm in an attempt to get her hand into the small hole. She got slightly closer while feeling her fingers manage to get in the hole, only feeling the solid ground of the cave, and Lucy would not get up. She moved her fingers an inch forward, really hoping that this treasure would be worth getting, and Lucy gasped a bit when she could feel something that was similar to moving sand. She didn't mind that, however, and Lucy put her five fingers into it.

That was actually quicksand with a great amount of force, sucking Lucy's hand into it, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard used the spell known as Fire Trick to destroy the small cave. Her right hand shot out a ball of fire at the quicksand, creating another fiery explosion, and the explosive fireball was powerful enough to decimate the cave into the rubble. As Lucy moved some of the rocks out of the way with her left hand, she soon screamed in horror from how her right hand was harshly getting sucked into the quicksand. It made half of her arm enter the whirlpool of sand as well, before dragging Lucy into it, and her size didn't really matter.

Lucy thought about summoning Scorpio, as he would use Sand Magic to help her get free, but she had another thought that oddly told her to just get into the quicksand. It would be pretty unorthodox for the treasure to be in the quicksand, but what if the quicksand pit led to the treasure? Lucy narrowed her cocoa brown eyes while her left hand tightly gripped the red spell book, not wanting to let go of it, and she soon closed her eyes while letting the quicksand suck her in. It would possibly take her down to the treasure, but what if it led to her death?

She felt herself get swallowed by the sand, traveling down through the dark brown sand, and Lucy didn't mind the heat at all. She thought that her own flames would be much hotter, possibly capable of burning through the Haina Desert, and Lucy wondered if she'd ever see the light of day again. This was quite an unusual treasure mission, since the treasure wasn't exactly in a sandy cave or on the desert sand, and Lucy really felt like this adventure was going to be just as crazy as her previous one. In fact, something crazy would probably happen soon.

Lucy began to slide downward at a faster rate, almost like the quicksand's path was going to end soon, and she started to let out a fearful scream as she thought that deadly spikes would be at the end of the fall. Lucy couldn't even pull out one of her Celestial Spirit Keys, since she was too afraid of what was going to happen, and looking up to not see any sign of daylight was quite bad. The dark sand around her made this path be quite dim, not having any source of light around, and Lucy soon fell down into a dark hole that was circular. She closed her eyes while thinking that a beast was at the bottom of the hole, but Lucy wouldn't exactly encounter a vicious beast.

* * *

 **Concurrently, in the stone ruins...**

Sting and Lector had been sent down to the stone ruins of the Haina Desert, walking on a black stone path that was bordered by black stone walls that had been made long ago, and the two males took notice of how the torches on the walls were dimly lit. The fact that fire was burning dimly in this place meant that someone must've been here, possibly looking for something that was very important, and no one else probably came down here. When Sting and Lector first dropped down through the quicksand, they noticed a wall behind them while Sting could hear footsteps on the other side of the wall. They also brushed most of the sand off of their bodies, and coughed from the clouds of dust that soon formed.

These ruins had paths that were closed off from each other, possibly meant to trap people or keep them away from their allies, and different quicksand holes actually led to different parts of the ruins. Sting and his red Exceed had been walking straight ahead for about 30 minutes now, watching the quicksand from above drop sand down to the floor in thin amounts, and it seemed like this path would go on forever. They were actually on the sacred path, a very long path that was made in olden times for the king to reach his throne, but the throne at the end of the path would no longer exist.

The light dragon slayer looked somewhat annoyed at the fact that Kira wasn't found, wondering if he'd have to find some way into another part of the ruins for the sake of finding his red-haired companion, and he honestly felt like this mission was pretty insane. Kira didn't appear to even be in the vast desert, as only her scent was remaining, and Sting's enhanced hearing didn't help him hear the sound of Kira's voice. It was like she wasn't even here, which was so puzzling to Sting, and he scoffed at the thought of encountering a tough monster soon.

He was in the mood to take out a monster, especially after how a stupid thief had the nerve to ruin his day by sending him down here, and Sting began to run fast as his blue eyes took notice of the path looking like it would have a right turn. He wanted to see if there was anything at the end of this path, even if would be a gigantic monster with large teeth, and the faint sound of something had caught his ears. Lector noticed the sound as well, causing him to quickly run alongside Sting, and the duo was quite eager to see what they would end up finding.

Sting kept running towards the straight route that ended at a rock wall, before making the right turn to see that the path was short while it led to an orange treasure chest, and the blue-eyed dragon slayer began to grin at how fate would reward him like this. He was about to take a few steps forward, really wanting to see what was inside the chest, but the sound of a girl's scream from above started to make him cover his ears. This certain wizard was screaming quite loud while her voice seemed familiar to Sting, and he looked straight up to see that he was standing below a dark hole. As Sting was about to try catching this girl, though, she was quick to fall on him.

"Huh? I'm not dead? What is this place?" Lucy curiously asked herself while opening her cocoa brown eyes to see that she was in an underground area, before noticing the treasure that was part of her mission.

Lector exclaimed in a concerned manner, looking very surprised by this, "Who are you? Did you know that you just landed on Fiore's best dragon slayer?"

Lucy looked down for a moment as she felt that her fall was broken by something, seeming somewhat happy, "Sting, you're here? We meet again!"

Sting asked her with a calm look on his face, still down on the ground, "Even though seeing you is the best amount of joy I've felt today, can you get off of me?"

Lucy blushed a bit while getting off of Sting, watching the light dragon slayer start to stand up as he was brushing himself off, and he made Lucy blush more by giving her a comforting hug. This had been one of the toughest jobs that he and Lector had to face, as they had to deal with the desert's heat while also dealing with the dangers of quicksand, and having another friend around would make the task of finding Kira seem less annoying. That made Sting widen his blue eyes while he thought about asking Lucy if she saw Kira, but her honest answer would probably make him scream in anger.

The Celestial Spirit Wizard calmly let Sting know that Kira came to her apartment in Magnolia for the purpose of collecting the 60,000 jewels that Lucy owed her for the spell book, and she had said something about wanting to eat at a cafe. Lucy smiled happily while asking the blue-eyed male about what he had been doing in the Haina Desert, before looking somewhat surprised at how Sting seemed like he was clenching his fists in anger, and Lucy chose to back away as her friend seemed like he was about to start screaming.

Sting did indeed scream, starting to rant about how Kira was just messing with him, and the confident guy didn't even mind that he was loud enough to alert some dark mages about his presence while they were behind the nearby wall. He felt like wanting to hit Kira right now, seriously disliking how she wasted his time with a total lie about how she was kidnapped, and Sting shot his White Dragon's Roar up at the quicksand ceiling with lots of power to create a gaping hole. He wanted to just fly out of here with Lector, wanting to scold Kira, but Sting soon shifted his attention to Lucy.

She pulled out the brown flyer from the left pocket of her green dress to show its job description to Sting, informing him that she was down here for the treasure, and the client would simply want to know if it was real. The small cave actually was a method of concealing the quicksand whirlpool that deviously sucked in someone who could make their arm reach it, and it would always bring people down to this part of the ruins. The dark mages who sought the treasure had not thought about the fact that the small cave was concealed by the last person who found it, so Lucy and her friends would be some of the few people who managed to find this place.

* * *

As Lucy took some steps towards the orange treasure chest that sat on top of a small staircase, she was soon feeling the ground begin to shake while Sting and Lector could feel it as well. What in the world was going on? Lucy soon saw the wall behind the treasure chest begin to have slight cracks, almost like someone had bulldozed or dug through the dense black rock wall to reach this ancient room, and that immediately caused Lucy to pull out one of her Celestial Spirit Keys. She opened the Gate of The Scorpion, summoning Scorpio, and the spirit who had a tail cannon appeared next to her.

Lucy and Scorpio looked quite curious about who could be barging into this room, seeing that it was a certain man who had messy brown hair while he wore an orange cloak with brown pants to match, but Sting wasted no time with running towards this guy. He wanted to make him pay for sending him down into these ruins, caring less about the treasure, but the brown-haired man grinned while he made the brown drill of earth on his left hand become longer for it to be like a sword that would stab Sting. Lucy didn't want to see her ally get stabbed, and she commanded Scorpio to use the attack known as Sand Buster.

Scorpio pointed his scorpion-like stinger at the robber, and a large amount of sand was fired at the opponent in the form of a large tornado! The criminal was struck by the attack while the black rock wall broke apart, not wanting to scream in pain from the attack, and Lucy watched the robber's rock drill begin to spin at high speeds. It began to take in the sand that was fired from Scorpio's tail, absorbing it to make the drill's power grow while it would become more dense, and Sting could see that this guy was not a complete idiot.

The criminal known as Sunahama begin to arrogantly grin while he picked up some rocks with his left hand, infusing his Earth Magic into them, and he simply threw the rocks at Scorpio! The Celestial Spirit with red and white hair began to scream in pain from how the rocks created orange explosions when they struck him, and Sunahama used his fast moving drill as a way to fire off the rocks at high speeds. More speed helped them gain more power, and Scorpio didn't like how one of the rocks brutally hit him in the chest. Lucy chose to send him back to the Celestial Spirit World, not wanting to see him get hurt anymore, but what would she do?

Lucy opened up the red spell book to see if there would be any spells worth using, hoping that at least one of them would be able to help her in this situation, and she turned some pages to find a spell known as Fiery Whip. Lucy called upon the spell, watching it soon create a whip of fire in her left hand, and Sting wondered if Lucy would try to burn the robber. She surprisingly made her whip of flames wrap around the drill, watching the fire soon get brushed away by the high speed of the drill's rotation, but something interesting began to happen.

A small flame managed to stay on the drill, simply giving it a slight burn, but that red flame soon grew large enough to cover the entire drill! This spell was actually useful for taking away an enemy's defenses, as the fire actually burned through the shell of the drill, and the robber's left hand quickly caught on fire. The flames that were brushed aside had returned to the glorious fire that was on the criminal's hand, attracted to the heat, and the flame soon stretched out like a whip to cover Sunahama in flames. He screamed in agony while getting down on his knees, not knowing what to do, and going down a quicksand hole to get close to the treasure room had been quite a hot mistake. By the way, this unorthodox spell of Fire Magic was known as Heated Whip.

Sting told him in a stern tone, not feeling any sympathy, "Well, that's your karma for trying to attack me in the Haina Desert and sending me down into quicksand."

Lector added while smiling proudly, pretty glad that Lucy used that spell, "That's what you get for messing with us!"

* * *

 **15 minutes later, in the desert...**

After Lector flew out of the hole with Sting and Lucy, the red Exceed was nicely introduced to the Celestial Spirit Wizard by Sting. He kindly informed Lector that Lucy was a Fairy Tail mage who didn't like her guild at all, since Natsu Dragneel rejected her, and using Fire Magic seemed to be Lucy's new specialty. She didn't seem to really shine in this fight, due to the robber being a really pathetic enemy, but Lucy did not come to the desert for a fight. She came to Haina Desert for the treasure, having taken the orange treasure chest out of the ruins, but what was in the small chest?

Lucy was about to open it up, really wanting to look inside, but a sudden breeze flipped a few pages in her red book to let her see a page that had a picture of the Fire Crystal on it. This part of the book explained to the blonde-haired mage that she could use a more powerful attack from any of her fire spells, changing them while she'd have to be holding the Fire Crystal as well, and Lucy took out that red item from the left pocket of her green dress. She calmly handed the book to Sting after seeing that a certain stance had to be made, but what was Lucy going to do?

She stretched out her right hand in a calm manner while pretending to breathe out fire, holding that pose for about seven seconds, and a large red vortex of fire soon emerged from Lucy's right hand. It headed for a rock that was far away, moving at high speeds, and the sight of a fiery explosion had made Lucy and Sting drop their jaws in amazement. The Fire Crystal enhanced the power of the spell known as Fire Ball, as Lucy was thinking about that particular spell during the moment she unleashed the move known as Fiery Flame Vortex, and that high-powered move simply activated before her weakest spell.

This was known as F-Power, since it came from the Fire Crystal, and the crystal's power could only be used once per day. After its usage, Lucy would just have to use the book's spells of Fire Magic. She looked down at her hands to see that they were engulfed in a red aura while they felt somewhat hot, and Lucy felt like she got slightly stronger. That was amazing for her, but she did feel kinda bad about defeating Sting's enemy for him. He seemed like he wanted to even the score with that guy, since they fought previously, and Lucy denied him that chance.

The girl with cocoa brown eyes felt like the light dragon slayer would be mad at her for taking down an enemy who he had a conflict with, making her look at him in a somewhat regretful manner, but Lucy was surprised to see Sting look at her in a pleasant way. He actually wanted to thank her for bringing some relief to his morning, especially liking how she comically fell on him, and Sting liked Lucy's way of dropping in on a matter that didn't even concern her in the first place. As Lucy began to look out at the remnants of the fiery explosion, Sting began to realize something.

Kira lied to him while she had been in Magnolia, possibly running into Lucy while she had to do a job in the Haina Desert. That quirky red-haired merchant wanted Sting to be in the Haina Desert as well, almost like Kira was hoping that Lucy would meet up with Sting, and she probably saw them as a good pairing. Sting blushed a little bit at that thought, thinking that Lucy was kinda cute, and she probably defeated his enemy as her way of returning the favor for how he saved her in Kasai Town. Sting actually liked that, but at least he could leave the desert soon.

"Well, Kira probably fooled me as a way to make us meet in the desert. Maybe we can officially meet up somewhere at some point, Lucy. I like being around you." Sting told her in a calm tone, wanting to thank her for making this morning be better.

Lucy asked him nicely as she smiled a bit, thinking of a good place, "There's a new cafe in Magnolia. We could meet there, Sting. It'll be like a friendly date."

As Lucy decided to gently pick up the small treasure chest with her right hand while walking over to Sting for the purpose of getting the spell book from him, both of the mages felt their hearts softly beat about the fact that they'd soon be going to a cafe together. Lucy's left hand swiftly obtained the spell book from Sting, before she turned around, and Lucy started to blush a light shade of pink as she thought about how Sting had the most confident grin that she had ever seen. At the same time, Sting found himself starting to think about Lucy's cheerful smile. The desert may have been rather dull, but the chemistry between these two mages could be strong like Earth Magic.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 6? Feel free to give me feedback on it.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **The First Date, Part 1**

* * *

Five days after finding the orange treasure chest in the Haina Desert, Lucy decided to open it up while she sat down on her bed that was covered by the pink comforter. She wondered about what could possibly be inside, thinking about how this chest could contain lots of money, and that reward would certainly be appropriate for a treasure that many people failed to obtain. There was the unfortunate thought of opening up the treasure chest to find that nothing was inside, however, and Lucy certainly wouldn't want that to happen.

She slightly narrowed her brown eyes as her left fist was clenched, really not showing any sign of fearing the outcome, and Lucy pushed up the upper part of the treasure chest to see what was inside the orange box. The Celestial Spirit Wizard gasped in shock, really amazed at what was inside the treasure chest, and she couldn't believe that her luck was pretty good. Really, she had to wonder why someone would hide an item like this in the ruins where thieves were lurking. Lucy felt like this was a pretty amazing discovery, and she would certainly have to inform Sting about it when their paths would cross again.

Lucy had found one of the Rainbow Crystals, liking how it was a small crystal that was in the shape of a rhombus, and it looked similar to the Fire Crystal. The main difference was that this second crystal was orange, though, and many treasure hunters heard about it was called an Earth Crystal. Lucy gently picked it up with her right hand, liking how it felt somewhat dense like a very strong rock, and the orange crystal pulsated faintly. Lucy felt like that was intriguing while she decided to get the red spell book, wanting to see if it had any info on the Earth Crystal, but how would that be possible?

Lucy's red spell book centered around Fire Magic, which was clearly different than Earth Magic, but the mage from Fairy Tail was the type of girl who was used to taking chances in situations. She got off of her bed to walk over to her desk, since the red book was on it, and Lucy picked up the book while thinking that this experiment could work. Trying out this weird idea could have some good results, and it wouldn't hurt to try something once. If it failed, then she just wouldn't need to even try it a second time. What in the world was Lucy going to do?

She went back to her bed while placing the red book down on it, before putting the Earth Crystal on the spell book, and something interesting began to happen. Lucy took notice of how the Earth Crystal let out an orange glow, causing orange beams of light to travel down into the red book, and Lucy's book began to become orange while it shined in accord with the Earth Crystal! She picked up the orange crystal while seeing the orange book start to open on its own, flipping to a set of pages that Lucy didn't look at before, and Lucy was very surprised to see her book change colors.

 _"Wow, these Rainbow Crystals sure make things exciting."_ Lucy thought to herself while she still looked surprised, as her eyes briefly shifted to the Fire Crystal that was on the desk.

The blonde-haired mage looked at the open book to see that some lines of text were now in an orange color, turning a few pages to see that pictures of new spells were starting to appear, and the spells looked like they belonged to Earth Magic. That type of magic could be used for creating spells out of sand and quicksand, as Lucy learned firsthand during her little adventure in the desert, but Earth Magic could also focus around spells that involved rocks or mud. It could certainly make foes be scared of earthquakes, and even mud balls could be dangerous.

Lucy remembered how Sting kindly informed her that spells of Earth Magic could also be useful for helping a person strengthen their punches or kicks, as earthy spells could help a person kick down rock walls with amazing amounts of power, and she'd certainly never forget that advice. Speaking of Sting, though, Lucy wondered if he had free time today. Not only would she want to share the results of her little experiment with him, but Lucy also felt like it would be okay to ask him out on a nice date. They weren't exactly lovers, but Lucy really did like being around the great Sting Eucliffe.

She really liked how he had been in the desert as well, which made the last part of the adventure become more interesting than tirelessly walking through a vast desert, and Lucy even got to meet his red Exceed named Lector. He was a much cuter cat than Happy or Lily, in Lucy's opinion, and Lector seemed to be a good partner for Sting. She thought about the possibility of forming a good trio with them, possibly being better than the times that she spent with Natsu and Happy, but Lucy could just save that for later.

Lucy got off of the bed to go look at something in her kitchen, remembering that she bought a Lacrima Communications Crystal yesterday from Kira, and paying a mere 1,000 jewels was quite a sweet deal. Of course, Kira only sold it at that low price because of how she didn't think that a Lacrima Communications Crystal would be very valuable. Lucy had no idea that Kira put Sting's contact info into the crystal before selling it to her, however, and that red-haired merchant was certainly trying to get them together. She felt like they could have some great chemistry, and Kira's assumption would most likely be correct.

As Lucy went to go turn on the Lacrima Communications Crystal that was on the kitchen table, though, her cocoa brown eyes shifted to the closet for the purpose of deciding what to wear. Lucy had told Sting that they could meet at Magnolia's newest cafe, which would probably have food that was quite fancy, but Lucy didn't need to put on a dress that looked too fancy. She began to wonder about what outfit she'd look great in for a nice date, but Lucy soon focused back on contacting Sting. After all, it would only be a date with him if he was going to agree.

 _"I kinda like Sting, but does he like me?"_ Lucy thought to herself while being a bit nervous, as her cheeks blushed a light shade of pink.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in a park...**

Sting and Kira were currently in a grassy park that was near their guild, having a pretty stern discussion involving how the merchant with hazel eyes really had no business lying to her guild master about being in danger, and the light dragon slayer stood across from her as he sternly informed her that making him worry was not a good thing to do. Sting was quite dedicated to his friends, as he actually wanted to go through the entire desert to find Kira, and he put his hands near his hand while just feeling slightly irked at Kira's little scheme.

He felt like there was no need for her to try assisting him with getting a girlfriend, as he could confidently do that on his own, and Sting would've rather heard Kira tell him that Lucy was going through trouble in the Haina Desert. That would've actually given him a reason to be there, and getting there before she even showed up was simply a way to waste time. The fact that he got sent down into quicksand by a criminal had made Sting feel pretty annoyed, but he wasn't going to punish Kira. Based on how she pretty much assumed that Lucy would need Sting's help, he couldn't be angry at her for that.

Sting did tell Kira to stop with her lies, however, and he certainly didn't want the red-haired merchant to be caught in anymore ransom requests. Dealing with a quirky person was not exactly Sting's strong point, as this girl was far from predictable, and he still remembered the time that they went on a mission together with Rogue. Kira had been bragging about a new technique that she could use to defeat enemies with ease, saying how it would be so great, but Sting didn't really find her new technique to be the most original one on Earthland.

When an enemy ran towards Kira and got pretty close to her, she actually belched out a spiraling beam of fire that looked somewhat reminiscent to the Fire Dragon's Roar attack that Natsu could use. Kira probably invented that technique known as Fiery Belch from watching Natsu use Fire Dragon's Roar in a fight that happened after she handled an easy mission in Magnolia Town, possibly watching him use other fiery attacks to defeat bandits, and Sting felt like the real greatness of that move was how Kira changed its name to suit her.

As Sting wanted to go get a cola from the nearest bar, he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of his Lacrima Communications Crystal making a sound that was similar to a phone ringing. Sting pulled it out of his blue vest's left pocket and tapped it gently, being pretty surprised to see the face of Lucy Heartfilia suddenly appear in the Lacrima Crystal, and he wondered about how she got his contact info. He didn't recall exchanging it with her, as she didn't seem to have one in the Haina Desert, but Sting chose to talk with Lucy while ignoring Kira's mischievous giggling.

"Hey, Lucy. It's a surprise to see you. Good morning." Sting told her in a calm tone while showing off the bright white teeth of his confident smile.

Lucy replied as she smiled softly, blushing a bit while she only wore her pink pajamas, "Hello, Sting. I have something really cool to tell you, but I also wanna know if you're doing anything later. I thought we could go to that new cafe in Magnolia, if you don't mind."

Sting asked her with a flirtatious look in his blue eyes, "Oh, like a date? That's kinda cool, you know."

Lucy responded in a somewhat flustered manner, her cheeks blushing more pink, "We're pretty close friends, so it could totally be like a date! I'll see you in the afternoon, and you won't be able to miss the cafe's smell of strawberry cupcakes! See you later, Sting!"

After the blonde-haired girl turned off her Lacrima Crystal to end the conversation, Sting started to face Kira with a somewhat apologetic look. If her desire to play matchmaker had led to this, then Sting would have to thank her for getting him a date with Lucy. Kira thought that their personalities would mesh quite well, which really explained why she called Sting to greatly lie to him about being in trouble, and her attempt to get them together seemed to have good results. She appeared to be quite quirky, yet she had also been quite intelligent as well.

Kira kindly asked Sting if he would need her help with choosing an outfit for his little date with Lucy, prompting him to confidently inform her that he had no problems with wearing his usual attire, and he looked at Kira to see that she was currently wearing a red T-shirt with red khaki pants to match. He took notice of how she was wearing pink flat shoes as well, which were quite nice, and Sting began to wonder about what Lucy would be wearing. Since they were just friends who were having a lunch date, she'd probably just be in a casual outfit.

Sting continued to stare at Kira for a few moments, before blinking his blue eyes a few times, and the light dragon slayer began to think about how Lucy would look in a strapless black dress. Lucy would possibly look really cute with her beautiful blonde hair down like how Kira's red hair was down while the dress would show off the beauty of Lucy's legs, and imaging her cute smile caused Sting to actually begin blushing a light shade of pink. Kira snapped him out of his imagination by snickering in an amused manner at Sting's blushing face, and that simply made him groan in frustration while he proceeded to go get a cola from one of the town's bars.

* * *

 **One hour later, at Lucy's apartment...**

Lucy was now looking at the clothes in her closet while blushing a light shade of pink, still flustered about the fact that she asked Sting out on a date, and she really had every right to be somewhat nervous. Even though Lucy was starting to become more confident in herself, pure luck was involved in the task of meeting Sting at the cafe. He could've refused her offer, which would've made Lucy feel somewhat disappointed, but luck was thankfully on Lucy's side. Now that she was going out on a date, though, what would be the best outfit to wear?

She looked at the clothes in her closet, seeing the tropical light green dress that she bought in Kasai Town, but Lucy didn't want to wear something that wouldn't really fit with the atmosphere of a cafe. She decided to also not wear a purple cheerleader's uniform that she bought a few months ago while doing some shopping in Magnolia Town, feeling like that outfit would just make her look weird around Sting, and she certainly wasn't trying to look hot for him. After all, this was just going to be two friends having a pretty calm date.

Lucy also looked down at the shoes that were in her closet, really having no issue with them, and she was mainly focused on what she'd be wearing. She looked up at some of the hangers that were on the rung while they kept her dresses and pants from being on the ground, and a cute smile began to appear on Lucy's face when she thought about wearing some dark green jeans with a pink crop top to match. That seemed to be a pretty fashionable pairing, as Lucy thought that the green would really compliment the pink, but she twiddled her thumbs as one other issue came up.

What would she say to Sting at the cafe? Talking about the Rainbow Crystals and discussing spells was quite nice, but Lucy wanted their friendship to move beyond that. She really to get to know Sting more while also letting him know some interesting things about her life, and even talking about how Sting was the guild master of Sabertooth would be pretty nice. She really felt like this friendship could be great, especially because of how he practically saved her life on one of the toughest missions that she initially felt like handling alone, and Lucy saw Sting as a great guy.

Her heart started to beat slightly faster when she thought of Sting wearing a tuxedo for this date, thinking that the people in Sabertooth probably shared Minerva's attitude about being fancy, and Lucy blushed from imagining Sting having that elegance. Rogue would actually be the dragon slayer with elegance, though, and Sting wouldn't actually feel the need to get dressed up for a casual date. As Lucy thought of putting on something to go with her pants and crop top, however, a knock at her apartment's door interrupted her plans. Even though Lucy would gladly open the door, who was wanting to see her right now?

"Whoever you are, I'm getting ready for my-" Lucy said while she opened the door, before her smile became a frown from seeing who wanted to speak with her.

"Hey, Lucy. It's been a few days, and I just wanted to see if you're ok." Erza told Lucy with a kind smile on her face, as she wore her Heart Kreuz Armor.

That only made Lucy give Erza a stern look, really not caring that Erza wanted to check on her, and Lucy decided to start off the conversation on a tense note. She actually asked Erza if she could confide this conversation between them, clearly mocking how Erza kept Natsu's feelings about Lisanna from reaching Lucy's ears for months, and the blonde-haired mage really wasn't wanting to hear anything that Erza had to say. If the woman known as Titania had truly been her close friend, then there would've been no need to keep Natsu's love life private from her.

Good friends would also make sure that one of their friends wasn't feeling hurt from rejection, but Lucy didn't exactly hear anyone knock on her door before the first time she ran into Kira. She felt like Erza was not her friend, mainly because of how she was now checking up on her, and the two girls hadn't really talked for seven straight days. In that whole week, Lucy only went on two adventures involving the Rainbow Crystals while Erza went on seven adventures with the members of Team Natsu. Those adventures didn't really take many hours to complete, and Erza had time where she could've talked to Lucy.

Erza really felt like Lucy needed to hear her apology, even if this was just one week after Natsu had rejected her, but Lucy didn't want to hear it right now. She needed to think about some good things to tell Sting on their date, even hoping that he would like her outfit, and dealing with Erza would just cause drama. Lucy felt like really telling her off for not saying something when she should've, and Lucy's anger was certainly justified. Erza allowed her to love Natsu for seven straight months, really making a fool of herself, and a real friend would've told Lucy that Natsu was wanting to be with Lisanna.

Erza narrowed her brown eyes while she grabbed Lucy's left arm, really wanting them to be able to just talk for a moment, but Erza was surprised to see Lucy easily get her arm free from Erza's grip. The Celestial Spirit Wizard's left hand was surrounded by an orange aura that Erza only saw for a few seconds, seeing it fade away quickly, and Erza could see that Lucy had been getting stronger. When Lucy pulled back the pink sleeves of her pink pajama shirt in preparation for changing her clothes, Erza noticed that her biceps looked a bit more muscular than before.

This was most likely due to the fact that Lucy had taken some easy jobs that involved fighting weak bandits in other towns, and hitting them with many fiery punches had caused the muscles in her arms to become stronger. She wouldn't want her arms to become too tired, though, and Lucy was glad that she only took one mission per day. Lucy would now have Earth Magic to give her more strength, though, so she would be able to start looking physically stronger. She went back into her apartment to pick out the clothes for the date, rudely closing the door in Erza's face while she'd wait for her to leave, and Lucy hoped that the date would cheer her up.

* * *

 **Three hours later, outside of the cafe...**

After taking care of some errands that had to be done in the town where Sabertooth resided, Sting went all the way through the rocky mountains that kept Fiore divided into two halves. Magnolia was on the other side of the mountains while Sting's town would be distant from it, but he didn't mind walking quite far for a date. He felt like it would just be a good way to get some exercise while three hours of walking would also kill the amount of time that he'd have to wait for it to be afternoon, and it certainly ended up working in his favor.

Sting stood in front of a cafe that had a black trapezoid-shaped roof above it to nicely compliment how the building was white, and the male with blue eyes really liked the fact that there were some black round patio tables situated on the cafe's white patio. He chuckled a bit while thinking about how those tables were similar to the one that he and Rogue sat down at with Lucy, even thinking about how it was good that she was able to find a shop that sold rice balls in the town of Kasai, and Sting chose to just stand near the cafe's entrance.

He looked at his reflection in the window for a moment, wanting to make sure that his blond hair was in its usual spiky style, and Sting also flexed his muscles for a moment. He thought about how it would be good to ask Lucy about how things were going in Fairy Tail, even though she only got her heart broken seven days before they met, but Sting didn't think that would be a very good idea. It didn't seem like anything had changed in that guild for the blonde-haired girl, as she didn't mention the guild to Sting while they were in the desert, but Lucy could always join another guild.

At that moment, Sting's blue eyes widened with a sense of joy. Couldn't he ask Lucy to join the Sabertooth guild? She would probably wait a few weeks to leave her old guild, though, and the fact that nothing big was happening had made Sting also think that would be a dumb idea. It's not like she would really agree to that, since Minerva was a part of the Sabertooth guild, and Sting wouldn't want his new friend to feel fear from someone who nearly killed her in the Grand Magic Games. He turned around while thinking about what to ask her, but his jaw soon dropped at the sight of Lucy walking towards the cafe while she directed her smile at him.

She was wearing dark green jeans with a crop top to match, along with some sky blue flat shoes that looked pretty nice, and Lucy also wore an open jacket that was orange. Her hair was tied into a ponytail that was on the right side of her head, and Sting really liked her fashion choices. He didn't know what the first words from his mouth were supposed to be, as he found her casual look to be just as beautiful as when he imagined her wearing a black dress that was quite beautiful, but Sting wasn't the only one to blush while feeling speechless.

Lucy thought to herself while looking into his beautiful blue eyes, her cheeks blushing a cute shade of pink as she saw him attempt to stop staring, _"He's totally checking me out! He must really think I look good, but he always looks so hot. He shows off those nice abs, and his smile is just.. Oh, wow! I called him hot. He's staring, and I can't stop blushing!"_

* * *

 **How was Chapter 7? Feel free to give me feedback on it.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **The First Date, Part 2**

* * *

When Lucy and Sting entered the cafe, they took notice of how the walls were brown while the floor was black and white in a chessboard pattern. The two mages chose to sit down at a table that was near one of the cafe's windows, since Sting wouldn't mind eating some of the nice sunlight, and the duo also felt that some brightness would give more of a positive mood to their date. Lucy had a calm look on her face while she chose to sit down in one of the black chairs while she was across from Sting, trying her best to not get flustered, and she wondered about how the date would go.

Lucy began to think about what she would want to ask Sting at the start of the conversation, really hoping that she wouldn't end up saying something that was idiotic, and she twiddled her thumbs for a moment while wanting to ask the right question. This was her first date with Sting, which did make Lucy feel somewhat nervous, but she had to display some confidence. Being very nervous on a date wouldn't exactly be good for the chemistry that she had with Sting, and Lucy didn't want him to have any reason to dislike her.

She exhaled a breath of air for the purpose of keeping herself pretty calm, simply deciding to wait for one of the waitresses to walk over to the table, and Lucy also thought about how the Earth Crystal caused her red book to become orange. If that spell book was really filled with new spells, then it would be pretty exciting to use some of them at a later time. Lucy thought about how she could probably break rocks to create some powerful explosions, which would be somewhat interesting, and she started to smile at the thought of giving a rough kick to someone's chest.

Her nice smile was enough to make Sting give her a curious look, wanting to know about what was on her mind, and the light dragon slayer also felt that it would be good to ask her some questions. After all, they were on a date. This was a social thing where two people could just casually talk, possibly having great conversations that could greatly improve their bond, and Sting liked the idea of coming to Magnolia for this date. He was pretty happy to see Lucy, but this date would also keep Kira from bothering him for a while. Hopefully, she wouldn't try to feign being kidnapped.

As Sting's blue eyes shifted down to one of the cafe's menus, liking how this place seemed to serve chocolate chip pancakes with chocolate fudge as a nice topping, he looked up from the menu for a moment to see Lucy happily smiling at him while she blushed. Sting's cheeks began to have a pink blush on them as well, really liking how Lucy was such a sweet girl, and he felt like it would be good to just end the silence. Despite the fact that they just got to the cafe, it would really be nice to have a conversation. Sting felt like it would be good to ask about the book, but he smiled confidently when Lucy chose to start their conversation.

"Sting, how are things going at the Sabertooth guild? What's your town like?" Lucy asked the blue-eyed male in a happy manner, smiling as she thought about how Sting's guild was probably better than her current guild.

The blond-haired male responded while looking pretty confident, happy to talk about the guild that used to be the best one in Fiore, "Well, Sabertooth is a pretty cool guild. Most of the people like to handle jobs while other people tend to relax, and we're not strict like before. As for my town, almost everything is good."

Lucy asked him with curiosity in her cocoa brown eyes, wondering how something couldn't be good, "If Sabertooth is so great, what problems can you have?"

Sting began to fold his arms as he decided to tell Lucy something interesting on their date, thinking that she'd probably be very excited to hear about this news, and he also felt a bit embarrassed to admit this. The light dragon slayer began to speak of how there was a holy church in the town that was close to Sabertooth, saying that it was known as Voltage Town, and that place tended to rely on light. It was filled with some interesting people, even having mages who specialized in Lightning Magic, but the mages were actually the problem.

Lucy was surprised to hear her friend bring up how the mages in Voltage Town really made him feel uncomfortable, due to how some of them tended to grin at wizards from other guilds in a sinister way, and Lucy was also amazed to hear that those mages who wielded Lightning Magic were prohibited from attacking outsiders. Sting recalled a time when he had to handle a job in that town with Rogue, simply walking down the street, and Sting accidentally pushed someone over. Even though that person fell to the ground while looking annoyed, they claimed that it would be evil to just attack Sting.

Sting had tried to talk more with that person, but they quickly got up and decided to run off while stating that they didn't like talking to mere garbage from another guild. Sting became somewhat irked from hearing that comment, really wanting to chase after that guy and give him a very harsh punch to the face, but he looked around to see the creepy sight of mages in white robes looking like they were possessed. Some of them walked past him while looking like they were in a trance, drawn to a spell that soon created an explosion within the church, and Sting was quite shocked to see a mage be sent flying out of it.

Lucy felt quite intrigued to hear that the mage's body was surrounded by a high amount of electricity while they had screamed in extreme pain, and Sting's gasp of shock made some of those mages turn towards him with harsh glares on their faces. Sting and Rogue wasted no time with running all the way back to Sabertooth, not even caring that the simple job of watering some plants would have to be pushed aside, and Sting really didn't like the vibe from that town. Lucy gently placed her left hand on his right hand while smiling softly, before saying that there was never anything wrong with being afraid, and she could understand why Sting felt uncomfortable. If she was in that situation, it would've also been very chilling for her to handle.

* * *

 **20 minutes later, in the cafe...**

Natsu and Lisanna entered the cafe with smiles of delight on their faces, really wanting to check out this new place, and the two mages from the Fairy Tail guild decided to sit down at a table that was somewhat distant from where Lucy was sitting with Sting. Natsu felt pretty excited to eat food at this cafe, especially after an entire week of handling jobs that were pretty tough, and Lisanna would be treating him to a nice lunch. They were quite a happy couple, not really having any huge fights, and Lisanna was pretty glad to be here.

She sat across from Natsu while thinking about how he managed to save her from large boulders when the team had to a job in a rocky area, and seeing the fire dragon slayer break through that rock with his left fist engulfed in flames had certainly made Lisanna feel happy. She also liked how Natsu was able to kick away a huge boulder that fell from one of the rocky mountain's upper paths, preventing the boulder from crushing Lisanna, and the white-haired girl felt like she had the best boyfriend in the world. Natsu cared about her so much, and she really liked that.

Lisanna wore her pink spaghetti shirt that had a red ribbon in the middle of it, and she also wore some blue jeans to match while wearing sneakers that were in a regular shade of brown. Natsu simply wore his usual clothes, not really seeing this as any kind of date that they'd have to dress up for, and the male with pink hair just wanted to eat some food. The three waitresses seemed like they wouldn't be arriving at their table anytime soon, though, so Natsu would just need to have some patience. After all, complaining about food while being impatient wouldn't exactly make it arrive in a hasty manner.

He slightly smiled while explaining to Lisanna that their next job would probably be a fun one to handle, as it was now his turn to choose the task that the team would do tomorrow, and the fire dragon slayer would be sure to pick something that wouldn't be too harsh for everyone. After all, he wouldn't want his sweet girlfriend to nearly get crushed by huge boulders or almost get eaten by giant snakes. Natsu did like how Lisanna could use her Take-Over Magic to be in her Animal Soul: Tigress form, and seeing her claws easily slice through a metal gate two days ago had been pretty cool for him to witness.

As one of the waitresses walked past the table where Natsu and Lisanna were sitting, the burger and fries on the grey trays giving off such a great smell, Natsu sniffed the air to smell that great food. He took in its scent while finding it to be just as wonderful as the food probably was, but Natsu's nose soon caught a whiff of something very interesting. He widened his eyes in a very surprised manner from looking straight ahead, seeing that Lucy was sitting down in this cafe as well, and Natsu was even more shocked to see that she was with Sting Eucliffe.

"Why is Lucy here with that guy? Isn't he from Sabertooth?" Natsu calmly asked Lisanna, before narrowing his eyes at that situation.

Lisanna replied with a cute smile on her face while she turned around to see the waitress putting the food on the table where Lucy sat with Sting, "Yeah, and it looks like they're on a date. They might be nice together."

Natsu slightly clenched his right fist while being somewhat uncomfortable about how Lucy could date someone from the Sabertooth guild, especially since those guys were rivals of Fairy Tail, and Natsu didn't really like Sting. He remembered how that guy laughed at Lucy when she was getting beaten up by Minerva in the Naval Battle, which really caused Natsu and the others to be pretty upset, and Natsu was pretty glad that he managed to give Sting a beating in their fight. That was like payback for how he laughed at Lucy being tortured, but now she was dating him?

That was something Natsu really couldn't understand, unless the two mages probably made amends, and his enhanced hearing allowed him to hear Lucy giggling at one of Sting's stories involving how he and Yukino once ran from bees while handling the job of getting natural honey for a client. Natsu could hear Lucy tell Sting that he was quite an amazing guy, even hearing her say that she wished that they could've really had some fun in the Haina Desert, and Natsu was simply stunned to hear that the Celestial Spirit Wizard went out on a job with Sting.

Lisanna noticed how Natsu was very shocked at what he was hearing, not liking how he gasped from hearing Sting say that Lucy could come to his town for the sake of hanging out with him and someone named Kira, and Lisanna gently touched his right arm with her left hand. She gave him a somewhat stern look that informed him about how it was never good to eavesdrop on two people who were on a date, especially if the eavesdropper himself was out with his girlfriend, and it wouldn't be a fun lunch if Natsu was getting worried over something that didn't concern him.

If Lucy wished to hang out with people from Sabertooth, then she could freely do that. Besides, it wasn't like Lucy was the only mage who could do jobs with someone from another guild. The girl with white hair thought about how Gray would probably end up taking a job that required him to work with Lyon Vastia, a mage who also used Ice-Make Magic while being in the guild known as Lamia Scale, and there wasn't anything wrong with Lucy working alongside Sting. Besides, it was good to see that she was happy. It was certainly better than the scenario of her crying for weeks about being rejected by Natsu, right?

Even though Lisanna was happy about Lucy trying to move on, Natsu wasn't exactly pleased about this. He felt that Lucy hanging out with people from Sabertooth would only cause her to join their guild, and the fire dragon slayer stated that thought aloud for Lisanna to just giggle. She didn't think that one date would cause Lucy to leave Fairy Tail, but she narrowed her blue eyes as she told Natsu to just relax. The basis of Lucy's friendship with Sting was pretty unknown to him, so he couldn't be so hasty to judge them. Natsu had his own relationship to think about, and he sighed a bit while not wanting to make Lisanna feel upset in any way.

* * *

 **One hour later, outside of the cafe...**

After paying for the burgers and fries that he and Lucy ate at the cafe, Sting felt like he needed to get back to the Sabertooth guild. This made Lucy feel pretty disappointed, as she wanted to spend some more time with him, but the Celestial Spirit Wizard could understand why Sting had to return to his town. His red Exceed named Lector was there, probably worried about Sting not being able to impress Lucy on the date, and the light dragon slayer would definitely return home to inform his best friend about how the date went quite well.

Sting liked how Lucy was pretty good at conversing with him, as she hadn't talked too much to dominate their conversations, and he also liked how she showed so much interest in whatever he wanted to talk about. Bringing up that incident in Voltage Town would probably make other girls think that Sting was a total coward for running away, but Lucy was very understanding. If someone walked into a town where people seemed to weirdly be possessed, then running away for their own safety would be the best option in that situation.

Even though Lucy would know where her apartment was located, Sting decided that he would still follow her home. That's normally what couples would do on dates, even though the two mages weren't even an official couple yet, and the blue-eyed male did want to see his friend's place. He could tell that Lucy was the type of girl who would keep her apartment clean, based on how she nicely told him that cleaning her apartment on a daily basis was the best way to always keep it tidy, and that was another thing Sting liked about his blonde-haired companion.

The two mages began to walk down the street with confident smiles on their faces, since they really enjoyed their first date, and Sting's cheeks were filled with a light pink blush when he noticed that his right hand was trying to hold Lucy's left hand. Boyfriends normally held hands with their girlfriends, as well as putting an arm around the female's waist, and Sting blushed at that thought while he began to feel like his friendship with Lucy could turn into a relationship at some point. They got along pretty well, so Sting wouldn't really mind it.

As he tried to make his right hand hold Lucy's left hand, he gasped in a surprised manner at the sight of her moving it away from him. She actually began to twiddle her thumbs while remembering something that had happened earlier in the day, and Lucy felt like this would be the perfect opportunity to tell Sting the great news. She felt like he would be incredibly happy to hear this, as it was something that really had been unheard of, and Lucy gently clenched her fists as she began to look very excited about what she'd say.

"Sting, listen. Before I called you, I opened up that orange chest to find an Earth Crystal inside of it. When I placed it on the book, the spell book became orange. Apparently, I can use Earth Magic now." Lucy explained to him while smiling, feeling totally psyched about it.

The wielder of White Dragon Slayer Magic responded in a somewhat arrogant tone, "Since you're the one wielding it, you can probably smash a boulder with one punch."

Lucy told him as she smiled softly, staying quite humble, "Oh, please. The book won't give me that much power at a fast rate. Besides, training with the spells will make me become much stronger."

Speaking of getting stronger, that kinda made Sting start to calmly talk about a funny story that involved Kira. The story happened on a day where Sting went to a beautiful lake with the red-haired merchant, wanting to help her handle the job of defeating a vicious bandit, and the blue-eyed dragon slayer had been worried when the enemy fired several beams of water at Kira. They were quite powerful, making blue explosions occur when they struck the ground or some trees, but Kira evaded the beams by doing that was quite unexpected.

Sting had been quite amazed to see Kira move around while hula dancing, almost like she was jokingly trolling the assassin who had been quite serious, and she merely giggled at the situation. Kira became strong enough to evade attacks in a rather odd manner, and she even combined some spells of Fire Magic to make that assassin be burnt to a crisp. Lucy giggled at Sting's little story, really liking how Kira could make something so odd in a fight become quite useful, and she really liked how the Sabertooth guild seemed to be full of interesting people.

Even though Minerva would be there, Lucy started to think about the fact that she could join the Sabertooth guild. It would be a nice change from feeling uneasy around the members of Team Natsu in the Fairy Tail guild, and it never really hurt to make some new friends. Lucy would also be able to get a new guild mark, and the jobs in the Sabertooth guild would probably pay more than jobs from Fairy Tail. After all, the money from that job involving the threatening note was quite amazing for Lucy to see. Going out on this date with Sting was very nice, and being in his guild would really make Lucy feel like she could be closer to him.

This had been another exciting day for Lucy Heartfilia, as she would now have new magic while her chemistry with Sting grew to a higher level, and going on another adventure with him would be really awesome. In fact, she decided to let Sting choose the next job that they'd have to take. It could be an easy job that involved pulling up weeds in a garden, or it could be a difficult job that involved taking down criminals or finding a rare item. Either way, Lucy would be pretty happy. She was even more glad about how she could show her apartment to Sting while deciding to let her left hand hold his right hand, and they'd probably just relax on the couch together.

* * *

 **Elsewhere, on a mountainous path...**

Even though Lucy and Sting were having lots of fun, a girl with blonde hair and green eyes wasn't exactly enjoying her current situation right now. She panted while wearing only a white T-shirt with a white skirt to match, seeming to be around Juvia's age, and this girl also carried a blue purse that was somewhat large. Even though it was somewhat big, however, the purse only had two important items in it. The green-eyed girl ran down the mountain trail that led away from her town, mentioning something about defecting, and she clenched her teeth for a moment.

She could hear footsteps behind her, realizing that some people were starting to be right on her tail, and she planned to look for the nearest cave that she could hide in. She only hoped that the cave would have some depth to it, even hoping that it would have branching paths that could confuse her pursuers for some precious moments, and her luck didn't seem to be very good. She could hear her enemies evilly shouting about how they'd bring death down upon the traitor, and this girl had to get some distance from them.

A sigh of annoyance escaped from her lips while she thought about how the pursuers were total morons for following the ways of a certain person who ruled over them, and that leader really didn't like it when this girl said that she couldn't follow the evil policies anymore. She didn't want to bring harm to anymore people, feeling really upset that she used something as beautiful as Lightning Magic for such an evil purpose, and this girl simply smiled when she kept on running down the trail. It seemed like all her pursuers could do was run after her, but she was wrong.

One of them fired a beam of Lightning Magic at her, causing a yellow explosion to occur behind her, and she was sent flying towards some large grey rocks that blocked off the rest of the trail. This girl fell to the ground for a moment, before managing to stand up, and her back was against one of the rocks while she groaned in frustration. The two male pursuers were getting close to her, taking slow steps while maliciously grinning to show the high amount of tension in this situation, and they were probably going to either kill her or take back what she took from their sacred place.

Would they really risk killing her, though? The cult leader hadn't exactly ordered them to take her life, simply wanting to get the items that were in the purse, and killing the daughter of that evil leader would possibly result in quite a shocking punishment for the two men. They wouldn't exactly like the light that the leader could use to annihilate them, but the leader also made a rule that traitors had to be killed. As they kept walking towards her, however, the defector with blonde hair smiled confidently at how no one from the town would ever leap off of the high trail like she just did. If she couldn't run, there was always the option to fall down into the dense forest.

The male pursuer with a white hood covering his face told his partner in a concerned tone, "Holy crud, man! She just went down into the forest! Unless she lands on a bush or in a tree, she's dead!"

The other pursuer who was also male had asked in a calm manner, still wearing his white hood, "Well, we're not dumb enough to go down there. If she's dead, then the leader may be pleased. If she survives, then I doubt any guild would believe what she tells them."

* * *

 **How was Chapter 8? Feel free to give me feedback on it.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Shocks and Voltage, Part 1**

* * *

Lucy sat down at a table in the Fairy Tail guild while she drank some mocha coffee that Mira prepared for her at the bar, and the blonde-haired mage calmly gazed at a nearby window in the guildhall to see that it was raining outside. The sky was currently grey while Lucy could hear the sounds of thunder roaring outside, clearly informing her and the other mages in Fairy Tail that a storm was occurring, and no one besides Juvia felt like taking jobs in this weather. After all, the streets would be covered with watery puddles and it wouldn't be good to fall on the slippery ground.

The rain fell from the sky while Lucy began to think about how her date with Sting was so nice, really liking how they spent time together at the cafe, and Lucy began to smile more from remembering how Sting simply grinned in approval when she arrived at her apartment with him by her side. The light dragon slayer was glad to enter Lucy's apartment and sit down on the couch with her, and the two mages merely talked about how they'd probably have fun tomorrow. Regardless of what the job was going to be, Lucy wouldn't mind being around Sting.

Her cheeks slowly became filled with a pink blush when she thought about how Sting was staring at her in such an admirable way during their date, allowing her to see that he really liked her attire, and Lucy gently twiddled her thumbs at how the blue-eyed male liked her fashion choices as much as he seemed to like her personality. Sting may not have dressed in a fancy manner for their date, but Lucy felt like his usual look was pretty cool. She just loved how he was so caring and confident, even liking how he promised to never let her get kidnapped on a job, and a guy who could be honest with her was quite appealing to Lucy.

There was potential for their friendship to escalate into a lovely relationship, but Lucy wouldn't want to rush into things. If she and Sting moved too fast with their chemistry, then they'd probably just burn out all their love before being able to really enjoy their time together. Getting romantic with Sting would make Lucy feel a bit happy, though, and she began to realize something that was quite interesting. When Sting helped her finish two tense adventures, there was happiness and humor to follow the tension. That kind of relief made Lucy have good chemistry with Sting, and her happy squeal of excitement for today's job had gotten a friend's attention.

"Lucy-san, why are you so happy?" Wendy asked her with a calm smile on her face, as she had been passing by.

The Celestial Spirit Wizard replied in a somewhat startled manner, as Wendy's voice snapped her out of her thoughts, "Hi, Wendy! I'm just happy because there's someone who always brightens up my day."

As Wendy was about to sit down at the table and kindly ask about who that person would be, the young sky dragon slayer quickly became surprised by the sight of lightning appearing near the guild. It struck the ground quite fast while also being very bright, which was a very shocking sight for Lucy to see, but that lightning strangely didn't seem to come down from the clouds. Lightning would normally strike tall objects, or it would tend to strike areas that were filled with lots of metal. Seeing that lightning hit the ground was quite weird, and it made Lucy blink her cocoa brown eyes for a moment.

She got up from her chair to walk towards one of the windows that would allow her to see outside, letting her view how Magnolia seemed to be quite bleak because of the rainstorm putting a sad atmosphere over most of the town, and Lucy's eyes shifted from straight ahead to look down at the guild's entrance. Even though the storm made it be dark at 9:30 a.m. in the morning, Lucy managed to see that someone was struggling to walk while their white clothes appeared to be covered in mud. If this person wasn't looking for a job at the guild, then what were they doing out in the rain?

Lucy took a few steps to her left while she let Wendy see outside as well, informing her that someone was out in the rain, and the blue-haired girl widened her eyes in a concerned manner from seeing that person fall forward. They were now face-down on the concrete, heavily panting while they looked up at the guild's entrance doors, and Wendy could see that the person was a girl. She felt like it could be a civilian who really needed medical attention from the guild, prompting her to run outside to help the stranger, and Lucy ran outside as well. After all, a good wizard always needed to help people who were in any kind of trouble.

Lucy and Wendy were very shocked to see that this blonde-haired girl had bruises on her arms and legs while her left hand tightly gripped a blue purse, her body trembling from exhaustion, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard watched her young friend use Sky Dragon Slayer Magic to restore this girl's energy. She appeared to be around the age of Lucy and Juvia, possibly being a year younger, but what was she doing here? Wendy watched the stranger start to slightly open the blue purse while she simply stayed on her knees, still hurt from some cuts that appeared to have bled, and it seemed like this person got injured from a harsh fight.

"Help me... Whoever you are, please help me..." The girl weakly told Lucy and Wendy while her green eyes looked up at the duo in a saddened manner.

Wendy responded in an assuring manner while Lucy's strength from the Earth Magic allowed her to pick up the girl and carry her, "Don't worry about anything! We'll get you to our guild's infirmary right away."

As Lucy began walking towards the guild's infirmary that was on the second floor while Wendy proceeded to close the guild's entrance doors, she was pretty glad that the members of Team Natsu weren't here to bother her about the date with Sting. She actually saw a glimpse of Natsu and Lisanna when she walked out of the cafe with the blue-eyed dragon slayer, choosing to just not say anything to them, and it was good that the team went out to handle a faraway mission before the rain came down upon the town. However, Lucy's concern quickly turned back to the injured girl who was in her arms.

Her cocoa brown eyes took notice of how a yellow glow began to pulsate within the blue purse that was opened by the stranger, and Lucy was quite glad that her Lacrima Communications Crystal was in the left pocket of her orange jeans. She would certainly have to tell Sting that their job might be delayed because of Magnolia's rainstorm, coupled with the fact that Lucy felt like she'd need to look after the injured mage, but fate could make things intertwine in mysterious ways. In fact, let's just say that Sting's quirkiest friend would show him something that would give him quite a shocking jolt.

* * *

 **25 minutes later, in a bakery...**

Sting bought a cherry pie that he'd share with Lector on this nice morning while it was warm and sunny in their town, free from the rain of a harsh storm, and the two males had purchased their delicious pie from the town's bakery. This place was known for making some good pies and cakes, creating some of the sweetest desserts that could be found in Fiore, and some of the bakers were skilled mages who could go out to faraway towns for the sake of picking up rare ingredients that could only be found in certain places.

As Sting picked up the brown bag that the pie was in, calmly taking it off of the brown counter, he silently thought about how it would probably be good to buy another pie for Lucy. He would probably split it evenly with her, and they could enjoy eating it after their job was finished. Yesterday had been a pretty good day for Sting, since he got to go out on a date with a girl who was quite beautiful, and Sting couldn't stop thinking about how Lucy was so enjoyable to be around. The conversations with her had been really fun, and Lucy wasn't too nervous about anything.

Sting's constant desire to show off his confidence had kept him from getting too flustered during the date, but his mind let him think back to how he held hands with Lucy. Her hand was very soft and warm, very gentle like how Lucy was quite gentle and kind to Sting, and the light dragon slayer really loved hearing her giggle at some of his stories. He could see her cheeks blush a light shade of pink during the date, which told him that she did have some feelings for him, and Sting also had some feelings for Lucy. He wouldn't want to openly tell her about them, though.

Sting really felt like Lucy might say that it would be too early for them to have serious feelings for each other, as one date wouldn't really make a couple have enough chemistry for kisses on the cheeks or kisses on the lips, and telling Lucy that he was attracted to her might cause their friendship to not be as stable as it was right now. Sting didn't want to ruin anything in their friendship, as he really did enjoy handling some of the best jobs ever with Lucy by his side, but the sound of a certain red-haired merchant humming behind him was enough to make him feel like today would once again be crazy.

"Does this bakery give out free pies for loitering in line, or do you want more people to show up here for a morning conga line?" Kira asked Sting from behind while smirking at her snide questions, liking how he turned around slowly with his left fist clenched.

The light dragon slayer responded in a comical manner as he looked somewhat irked, still holding the bag, "Excuse me, Miss Snarky. You already had breakfast at a different restaurant, and I was just thinking about buying another pie for Lucy. If you plan to feign your kidnapping again, the great Sting Eucliffe won't fall for it."

Sting thought that might shut Kira up, thinking that she was going to tell him that she was in some kind of trouble once again, but the male with blue eyes and his Exceed were very surprised to see their hazel-eyed friend pull out a brown flyer from the right pocket of her red shorts that matched the pink midriff she was wearing. She shockingly handed it to Sting while giggling, since she had actually heard Sting tell Rogue and Yukino about how his date with Lucy went quite well, and one part of the date that Sting mentioned to them had tied in with something that Kira recently discovered.

She actually went to Voltage Town last night, the place that was close to the town where Sabertooth resided, and Kira actually managed to sell some books on Caster Magic to the mages who were there while her prices were pretty high. Earning 700,000 jewels was quite easy for her, as two of the books focusing on basic Lightning Magic were bought for 300,000 jewels each, and the rest of the items were bought by mages who wanted to offer them as appealing gifts for their lovely master. One of the mages directly said that to Kira while they interestingly stood outside the church, and let's just say that this merchant got quite a show.

When Kira turned her head towards the white building, she soon found herself witnessing the sight of two women in white robes carrying a green-haired girl out of the church while they grinned evilly. The two mages threw her to the ground, before striking her with at least seven spells of Lightning Magic to turn her into ashes, and Kira was simply unfazed by the sight. She honestly saw worse deaths than someone meeting an electrical demise, but Kira listened in on how those women chanted words about mages from other guilds becoming dead for defying the wishes of the great mistress. They spoke of how her light would shine down on those who opposed her, and anyone who literally dodged an attack of punishment was going against a beautiful deity.

The mage who talked to Kira had told her that outsiders were not welcome in the dark, as they could taint the town with crime, and she was told to run back home because of how the priestess was in no mood to deal with trash from outside. Kira had gone back home while guessing that such powerful Lightning Magic was from an Electric Crystal, the Rainbow Crystal required for shopping in that town, and she could sense high levels of magic from within the church. As Kira was running, however, she didn't forget how that electricity caused the local mages to start walking somewhere like they were in a trance. Was that lightning used for giving out orders as well?

"No way, Kira! You can handle that job, since you picked it out! I've been in that creepy town before, and it gives me bad vibes. Those people in robes might be scared of your fire, so let it burn them down to the-" Sting protested loudly while he looked uncomfortable at the thought of Voltage Town, before the Lacrima Communications Crystal in his blue vest's left pocket began to ring.

Lucy explained in a calm manner, after Kira reached into Sting's vest to pull out the Lacrima Crystal and turn it on, "Kira, you have the Lacrima? If Sting's there, I just want both of you to know that I'm kinda busy looking after someone who nearly passed out in front of the Fairy Tail guild. She's in the infirmary, and I think I'll take her to my apartment when the rain settles down. Still, there's something weird. An item in her purse glows yellow, and her wounds look like they were from harsh Lightning Magic."

At that moment, Sting's facial expression became one to show how he was horrified. He could clearly guess what kind of Lightning Magic would gravely wound people, especially if it came from people who could angrily be possessed by the Lightning Magic that went off in a certain church, and those waves of electricity were probably what messed with their brains. He felt like the girl was possibly going to tell Lucy that she was from Voltage Town, which might cause Lucy to go there and try to beat those people down, and Sting couldn't let Lucy go there alone.

Even though Lucy had Earth Magic, Sting had a bad feeling that those people and their leader would show her no mercy. Anyone who went against that leader never lived to talk about it, unless they used Lightning Magic to hastily exit the church and jump off a mountain trail, but Sting did some research on who ran that supposedly holy church. It was said to be a priestess who desired to become a deity, having followers wield Lightning Magic to worship her, and a priestess who killed defiant people was quite dark. Despite how she could possess and even recruit people to join her town, Sting couldn't be scared of this woman. He clenched his left fist more while thinking that he needed to face up against his fear of the ominously possessed mages who could zap him to death, wanting to take care of that place before Lucy got there, but Sting also couldn't do anything hasty. As he was getting ready to face this trouble, what would Lucy be able to find out from the girl who defected from Voltage Town?

* * *

 **40 minutes later, at Lucy's apartment...**

After the harsh downpour of rain had minimized into a drizzle, Lucy went back to her apartment with the mysterious girl who she carried on her back. The two girls currently sat down at the kitchen table while Lucy noticed that this girl's blonde hair was wavy. She still kept her hair looking neat, even after a harsh fight, and seeing the girl tightly hold her blue purse made Lucy assume that she was quite protective of what was inside. The Celestial Spirit Wizard did not want to make this mage feel uncomfortable, causing her to not ask about what was in the purse, and she'd only ask simple questions.

Lucy took notice of how the girl looked at her with a facial expression of seriousness, wanting her to see that she'd be dealing with a pretty dire situation, and Lucy could see some sadness in this stranger's green eyes. There was definitely something on her mind, as her right fist was clenched from remembering what went down last night, and Lucy really wanted to help her. There wouldn't be a way to assist someone who wouldn't talk about the problem, especially if they were hit by Lightning Magic that left painful slash marks on their body, but the sight of the wounded girl opening her mouth to speak had made Lucy feel like she'd get some details about the situation.

"My name is Hikari Yūgure, and I'm sorry for not saying much earlier. It's awful that a girl like me had to end up falling into mud, but my town is dealing with something even more awful. What I'm about to say might really shock you, but don't even think of laughing." The girl told Lucy in a stern tone, as she kept thinking about the past few months.

Lucy responded nicely, after looking down at her blue T-shirt for a moment, "It's ok. I won't judge you on whatever the trouble is."

Hikari narrowed her eyes while she began to talk about how she came from Voltage Town, bringing up how the priestess of an evil church sent evil followers after her, and it was actually a pretty unsettling situation. The green-eyed girl told Lucy that the townspeople were living in fear because of how the priestess was like a dictator who ruled over them, showing no mercy with striking down anyone who defied her in any way, and that Lightning Magic left mostly everyone afraid on a daily basis. Even getting dirt on the shoes of the priestess was a reason for execution, but that was just the first part of Voltage Town's despair.

Lucy looked somewhat amazed to hear that the Electric Crystal used to be in the possession of the priestess, until she no longer needed its power, but the Celestial Spirit Wizard became a bit scared from hearing that this woman's Lightning Magic could suck the magical power out of mages. She extracted their Lightning Magic as punishment for going against the church, only wanting loyal followers in her cult, and she would sometimes use her persuasive personality to sway wizards from other guilds into joining her cult. Recruiting more members is what she loved to do, and she never tolerated disobedience.

Hkari informed Lucy that she walked all the way here from Voltage Town, hearing a former friend claim that Fairy Tail was a great guild, and the wounded girl desired to make her town see true light again. The priestess and her horrible followers made the town of Voltage be quite dark, as she would even conduct ceremonies that involved dispensable mages having to kill each other, and the fact that she showed no remorse was even more scary. She only desired to have Lightning Magic at full power, along with followers who would worship her, and Lucy was shocked to hear that this woman also wielded at least ten spells to make herself seem like she would be a deity.

It was interesting for Lucy to also hear that Hikari was a follower of this woman, only liking how the church took jobs like an official guild to bring money to Voltage Town, and Hikari had left the church of evil when she just couldn't do the dirty work of the priestess. In fact, she really thought that this woman was out of control. She'd laugh evilly about every death that occurred in the church, loving how all the followers chanted her name in an admirable manner, and the fact that she used Lightning Magic on most of the wizards to possess them had been quite terrifying. If light was such a good thing, why twist it for evil purposes?

"Wow, Hikari. That's a really troubling issue. This priestess sounds like she's nearly insane, and you want to take back the town from her?" Lucy said in a calm tone, before asking her question in a somewhat surprised manner.

The defector from Voltage Town's church replied in a stern manner, "I only can't do that because I'm not proficient with my magic, so that's why I took the risk of asking for help. Leaving the church was agitating enough to her, but I got attacked when she found out that her precious tools were missing."

Before Lucy could ask about what Hikari took from the church, she saw the client for this task pull back the zipper on the blue purse to pull out two items. One of them was a yellow object that had been shaped like a rhombus, clearly signifying that it was the Electric Crystal, and the other item made Lucy nearly drop her jaw in shock. The yellow glow from earlier was originating from a yellow spell book that looked quite similar to the orange spell book that Lucy could wield, and she simply watched Hikari place the items on the table.

The girl with wavy blonde hair soon remembered how she was attacked last night, starting to shudder at how the priestess made her followers have such evil power, and Hikari actually knew that this priestess was corrupted by the Lightning Magic. That was no excuse for making the green-eyed girl get those wounds, though, and Hikari was mostly mixed between emotions of anger and sadness because of how she was hurt by some people who she really cared about. Those people had been possessed while they didn't seem to care about Hikari's life, and she wanted all of the viciousness in Voltage Town to end.

Lucy gently tried to make her left hand reach out to touch Hikari's right hand, but she was very surprised to see the client aggressively pull back her hand. Hikari even thought about how her friends would even be rude to her when they were not possessed, almost like the poison of the priestess' manipulation and harsh attitude had gotten into their heads, and they were clearly too busy with praising the beautiful priestess. She may have been a beautiful woman who manipulated their minds, as they would even give her their Lightning Magic when she ordered them to feed her something other than actual food, but this priestess was quite evil.

Hikari really wanted to put her trust in Lucy and other allies of the Celestial Spirit Wizard, as they saved her from exhaustion, but she also didn't want to see them foolishly die at the hands of the merciless priestess. Hikari still remembered the dark day when the woman found the Electric Crystal and its Lightning Magic, really loving how it was filled with power that amplified the level of her spells in the yellow book, and her use of the Lightning Magic to kill several people in the town had been quite traumatizing for Hikari to witness. Hikari wanted Voltage Town to spark with happiness, but remembering last night made her feel like her town would still be electrified with death and despair.

* * *

- **Hikari's Flashback, at different times of yesterday-**

 _After jumping off of the mountainous path to avoid the two men who were pursuing her, Hikari managed to find shelter at the base of a large tree that was quite hollow. She harshly landed on her feet after falling, making her legs feel some pain, and Hikari panted while she began to sit in the darkness that was provided by this hollow space in the tree. She looked straight ahead to see that there were other trees that had been hollowed out in this forest, the carving strangely not appearing to be done with a knife's metal blade, and there were also bushes with various fruits on them._

 _Hikari thought about collecting some fruit for herself to eat, as her stomach softly growled, but she didn't want to alert any of Voltage Town's possessed mages to her location. It wouldn't be hard for someone to look down from a cliff to see that she was walking around, despite the fact that this was a pretty dense forest, and Hikari was probably just paranoid. She felt like people could come here to search for her at anytime, and that was enough of a reason for her to run away. She thought about going to that guild called Fairy Tail for help, but wizards would probably be out working at this time of the day._

 _She chose to sleep for several hours in a fetal position while hoping that enough time would go by for her to escape during the night, as she could probably walk off without anyone in Voltage Town being awake to spend time out on the mountainous trail, and Hikari slept comfortably for at least nine hours. She didn't make any noise when she slept, as she wasn't the type of person to snore, but that wouldn't stop a certain person who would be walking around at that time of the night to hunt her down. Friendships could be bad, especially if the friend was possessed._

 _When Hikari opened her eyes and yawned, she could see that noon had now become nighttime. She crawled out of the hollow tree while preparing to leave, only to see some blue high heels in front of her, and those shoes were belonging to a possessed friend who had been watching her while she slept. The darkness only allowed Hikari to see the person's silhouette, making her gasp in fear when she saw the long blue hair and yellow eyes that looked possessed, and she began to tremble in a shocked manner from how this person came after her._

 _"Hikari, you evil wretch. You defy the wishes of our lovely priestess, and then you have the audacity to steal from her? When two of our members alerted her about you going off the cliff, she gave us permission to hunt you down and kill you. Prepare to die, traitor." Hikari's friend explained to her while smirking evilly, making the blonde-haired girl tremble more while she was too scared to move._

 _Hikari begged her friend with a pleading facial expression, "Ayame, please remember that we're friends.. Don't do this..."_

 _Before Hikari could even try to reason with her, Ayame chose to attack Hikari with spells of Lightning Magic that made the electricity slash like blades! The lightning brought immense pain to Hikari's body, causing her to scream out in agony, and Ayame's lightning was quite powerful. She even hit Hikari's legs with a beam of lightning that created an explosion, only grazing her feet, and it seemed like Ayame would finish off the green-eyed girl. Just as Ayame was about to unleash a fatal attack, though, an explosion from the other side of the forest and a guy's happy laughter caught her attention. As Hikari's new enemy ran off towards the explosion that occurred, Hikari used that distraction to start crawling away to safety. When she could stand up again, she'd run as fast as she could._

* * *

 **How was Chapter 9? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Also, please forgive any flaws in my first flashback.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Shocks and Voltage, Part 2**

* * *

After Lucy gave Hikari a large plate buttermilk sugar cookies to eat, since she didn't want her to be famished, the Celestial Spirit Wizard had asked the green-eyed girl about the location of Voltage Town. Hikari had let Lucy know that they could take a train to the town of Voltage, since the station there was not abandoned, and getting there quickly would allow Hikari to try handling some business that she wouldn't mention to Lucy. The evil priestess who used Lightning Magic may have done evil things to affect the town, but let's just say that Hikari's conflict with her was more personal.

Lucy had contacted Sting with the Lacrima Communications Crystal to ask about where they would meet up in Voltage Town, liking how he was kind enough to inform her that they could meet up near a stone statue that was in the shape of a lightning bolt, and that statue was actually close to the church. Lucy and Sting were currently in Voltage Town while Hikari and Kira were with them, but Lector wouldn't be accompanying his best friend on this mission. Sting made him go back to Sabertooth because of how this place was quite unsettling, and he didn't want to see his red Exceed get freaked out enough to anger the possessed mages.

Hikari looked around to see that her town was still in a depressed state, as hardly any of the surviving civilians would come out of their houses, and some of the store owners wasted no time with locking the doors to their businesses when they caught sight of Hikari. The sky was grey while it seemed like rain would fall at any moment, ironically giving a dark atmosphere to the town named Voltage, but nobody cared about that. In fact, Sting looked somewhat annoyed at the sight of seven mages in white robes simply standing in the streets with their frowns directed at him. They weren't possessed at the moment, but their hatred for mages from other guilds was quite clear.

Sting felt like the best thing to do would be to just run towards the church, preparing to bust down its front doors, but he also groaned at that idea because of the fact that a loud disturbance could make the cult followers unleash their Lightning Magic on him. He didn't want to get attacked by any lightning spells that could create explosions, and he also didn't want to get paralyzed by any electricity. Despite being afraid, though, Sting could only tell himself that facing up to his fear was better than the scenario of Lucy coming here without him.

"Let's just go into the church, and we'll fight this priestess. She didn't exactly command her servants to stop us from getting into this town, so she probably likes to fight." Sting told the group with some seriousness in his blue eyes, as he tried staying calm to quell his nerves.

Hikari replied in a somewhat worried tone, wanting to understand why these people would be eager to fight the priestess, "Don't be so reckless! She isn't making anyone attack us because she must've assumed I'd return with allies. She must be expecting us, so you better be prepared."

Her words caused Lucy to look down at her green flat shoes for a moment, before her cocoa brown eyes shifted to the orange spell book that she held in her right hand, and Lucy immediately thought about how she never tested out any of the spells that were involving Earth Magic. She planned on doing that outside of Magnolia because of how there would be rocks and mud on the ground, but Hikari collapsing at the Fairy Tail guild's entrance had certainly made that plan be changed. Either way, using these spells would be exciting.

Lucy thought about how she could use Earth Magic to send strength into her arms or legs, but taking a look into the orange book of spells had allowed Lucy to see that she could use some interesting techniques. She got to read about one spell that would allow her to break the ground apart with some harsh stomps, which would make her create a large hole in the ground, and that could be pretty useful for trapping enemies. If they weren't able to jump high or have expertise in climbing walls, then those enemies would certainly be in deep trouble.

There was even a move that required Lucy to consume some mud, which was quite weird, but she could spit it out to create some muddy projectiles that were loaded with power. Still, three good spells would seem mediocre against an insane priestess who supposedly had ten spells. Lucy may not have liked the idea of using up lots of magical power for just one fight, but this situation really called for that. Seeing the townspeople be afraid of the mages was quite saddening for Lucy, as mages were people who had the task of protecting innocent people, and she could agree with her friends about how the evil had to end in this town.

As Lucy was about to start walking with Sting and Kira, the trio was quite surprised to see Hikari start running towards the church. It was nearby, looking like a modern cathedral that was white while it was quite large, and the cathedral was also in the shape of a rectangle. There were four square towers attached to the church while the stained glass windows appeared to be in the regular shade of orange. The center of every window, however, was where the design of a yellow flower's petals could be seen. The priestess must've thought that yellow flowers were beautiful like her precious lightning, but they'd also probably represent how her ego made her think that their beauty matched her loveliness.

One of Hikari's pursuers who stood in front of the door on the left side had asked in a harsh manner, as the white hood covered his face to let Hikari just see his mouth, "What are you doing back here, Hikari? Did a guild of idiots decide to help you take down our town's wonderful leader? Are you proud to be Fiore's dumbest wizard?"

The girl with wavy blonde hair replied with her green eyes narrowed, as she heard the other pursuer on the right begin to chuckle at that last insult, "You can obviously sense the magical presences of my allies, but I'm here to see the priestess. If she's not ordering you to keep me out, then let me in."

The hooded mages simply frowned and sighed in a displeased manner, as Hikari had a point, and they simply pushed open the black wooden doors with their hands. Hikari didn't mind the sound of the doors creaking, as that loud creak was nothing compared to the screams that she heard in the past, and she tightly clenched her fists while proceeding to walk inside. As she could hear the footsteps of Lucy and the others, however, Hikari turned around with a stern look on her face to give them a gesture that informed them that she needed to handle something in here with the priestess. If she screamed, however, then they could come rushing in.

As Hikari took some steps into the church, she could see the priestess sitting in a gold regal chair that was located at the church's altar. She didn't mind that Lucy and her friends were blocked from coming in right now, since the doors were still open for them to just see the situation, but Hikari did clench her fists in anger at the sight of mages slumped over on the brown benches. Some of them even laid on the benches with their eyes open while they were dead, as the priestess had ordered them to feed her their Lightning Magic, and Hikari could tell that their charred bodies meant that the priestess electrocuted all of these followers who were deemed to be dispensable.

* * *

 **10 minutes later...**

The priestess was a blonde-haired woman whose hair reached all the way down to her waist while she had eyes that were green, and she also wore golden high-heeled shoes that had glass bottoms. She kept sitting in her chair while narrowing her eyes at Hikari, simply miffed at her, and the silence between the two females was quite ominous. Hikari took one step forward while the priestess merely frowned at her, not even pleased to see her back here, and she didn't care for how Hikari began to give her a harsh glare for how some of the dead wizards on the benches were her childhood friends.

The name of the priestess was Akina Yūgure, and she used to be a mage who worked for the dark guild that occupied Voltage Town five years ago. Akina wasn't exactly the strongest mage back then, as every spell of her Lightning Magic could only create small sparks, but finding the Electric Crystal in a power plant had allowed her magic to become amplified. She trained with the Electric Crystal to strengthen her magic, until she found out that its powers could allow her magic to drain the life force of anyone else who wielded Lightning Magic, and boosting up her Lightning Magic had caused her to create terrifying jolts of electricity.

Hikari and Akina never forgot the day when the dark guild was attacked by massive lightning attacks, creating vicious explosions while electrocuting many of the mages who were inside, and Akina's Lightning Magic left Hikari somewhat scared of her for those five years. The dark guild's destruction was followed by Akina killing the survivors, before feeding on their Lightning Magic to make herself stronger, and she felt no remorse about taking the life of the guild master. Hikari was ordered to watch the destruction as a way of showing doubters that you can become powerful enough to instill fear into the hearts of others, and Akina loved to create that fear.

That was part of the reason why she manipulated mages from other guilds into joining forces with her, and she even gave Lightning Magic to Voltage Town's aspiring mages for them to respect her. She could even use her Lightning Magic to possess them, as well as giving it to mages from other guilds, and Akina's high level of power went well with how most of the town was involved in her evil cult. She desired to have fearsome power and eliminate the people who were weak, and the priestess felt like she could always recruit more people. As her green eyes looked down at Hikari, however, Akina growled angrily at how Voltage Town's cult had a traitor in their midst.

"You little wretch. My actions made us look strong, after all those years of how we were berated for being weak, and you repay me by stealing the yellow book and the Electric Crystal from me?! After all these years, you oppose the ways of my lovely cult and betray me?! Have you returned to beg for mercy, or shall I punish you now?" Akina asked Hikari in a very displeased tone of voice, clenching her teeth while she looked quite angry.

Hikari responded as she clenched her fists, tears starting to fall from her eyes, "I'm putting an end to your cult's darkness today! My friends.. these are my friends that you've killed for your own selfish gain! Your rituals of having mages kill each other were so sickening to watch, and having the cult members take jobs that involve killing outlaws in other towns to spread fear of us... The power has corrupted you and it's made my life be filled with fear, Mother!"

Lucy and Sting were quite surprised to hear that the evil priestess was Hikari's mother, as they never expected a twist like that to be involved with this cult, but it wasn't shocking to see Akina get up from her chair to harshly tell Hikari that she had no friends left in this world. Akina brought up how those pieces of garbage were just far too weak to be of any use to her, as they would even pass out from using just one high-level spell of Lightning Magic, and a deity such as herself didn't need followers who were fragile pawns.

She started to smirk in a very mean way while reminding Hikari of how she had such weak Lightning Magic, as she couldn't even do a good amount of damage to her own mother during their training sessions, and Akina even had the audacity to bring up how it was very fun to hear how Ayame harmed a useless traitor. Hikari wiped some of her tears away while she looked frustrated at her mother's words about how she no longer had a daughter, as a good daughter would've enjoyed how the cult brought harm to those who opposed it, and it was pretty harsh for the green-eyed girl to also hear the priestess talk about how a deity would never give birth to traitorous trash.

As Lucy was listening to the conversation, she really felt like rushing in there to shut Akina up. Even though Hikari would possibly attempt to reason with her some more, Lucy couldn't stand hearing someone be so vile to their own child. Akina may have been driven mad by the Lightning Magic from the Electric Crystal, but that was no excuse for how she was speaking to Hikari right now. It may have been a wonderful feeling to have some power, as Lucy remembered how good it felt to see the power of the red book's Fire Magic, but it was never good for a person to let their desire for power consume them.

Lucy and Sting obeyed Hikari's request to not come in while they listened to her calmly tell Akina that weak people existed in the world for a reason. Hikari stated how a person with tons of strength needed to acknowledge that they had weaknesses, and weak people could gain strength by having the good goal of becoming stronger. Sting was quite surprised to hear Hikari tell her own mother that a continuous need for Lightning Magic meant that she was still trying to get stronger, making her be seen as a weakling in Hikari's eyes, and a weak priestess could never be a deity.

"You worthless piece of trash... You dare speak to me like that?! I can kill you with a single strike, Hikari!" Akina angrily told while a yellow aura began to surround her body, signifying that she was going to unleash a powerful spell.

Hikari replied in a somewhat worried manner while she began to hear the sound of some pages turning in a certain orange book, thinking that Lucy couldn't possibly defeat the evil priestess, "Mother, please don't aim that lightning straight at me... It's so traumatizing..."

Akina stretched out her left hand and aimed straight at Hikari, before firing a large yellow beam of electricity straight at her daughter, and she completely ignored the fact that Lucy called out her first spell of Earth Magic. It was known as Rocky Spikes, and Lucy placed her right hand on the ground while she focused on the area in front of Hikari. The beam was quickly spinning towards Hikari, as Akina was going to strike her right in the heart, but the sight of large brown spikes rising up from the ground to stop the beam had made Akina and her daughter look quite surprised.

Lucy's wall of spikes began to break apart from having to defend against the electricity's high level of power, and it fell to the ground in the form of large chunks. Lucy didn't mind that, since it managed to stop Akina's weakest spell that was known as Lightning's Prayer, and she simply ran past the guards while feeling ready to take down the evil priestess. Dealing with someone other than Hikari wouldn't be a problem for Akina, perceiving Lucy to just be a minor annoyance, but she would certainly order her followers in Voltage Town to keep Kira and Sting from intruding on this little battle.

* * *

 **Five minutes later...**

Staring down Lucy for a few minutes had made Akina grin in a vicious manner at the thought of making Hikari's little helpers be sorry that they were dragged into a matter that didn't concern them, and she decided to give Lucy quite a shock with a spell known as Thunder's Volt. She fired a yellow orb of electricity from her mouth while watching it fly towards Lucy at high speeds, enhanced by the Lightning Magic that she had absorbed, and a yellow explosion of lightning occurred! Lucy screamed in pain from taking that attack, feeling her body start to get electrocuted, and Akina began to evilly laugh at the situation.

Lucy used her Earth Magic to have enough strength to quickly run out of the smoke, before seeing a spell in the orange book that would allow her to punch quite hard, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard chose to use this new spell. It was known as Earthy Bombardment, and Lucy's fists were soon engulfed by an orange aura. She threw the book on to a bench, before charging towards Akina, and Lucy was somewhat glad that the blonde-haired priestess was refusing to dodge this attack. She continued to run, before getting close enough, and Lucy simply struck Akina in the face many times with a barrage of harsh punches.

Her last punch was filled with enough strength to send Akina crashing against the back wall of the church, nearly creating a hole in the wall, but not before the villain used a spell called Thunder Fang. Her glistening white teeth temporarily turned into yellow fangs that looked quite sharp, and Akina harshly crunched her teeth into Lucy's right arm while not caring that her left fist had struck her. Electricity began to surround Lucy's body while she winced in pain, looking at how Akina's teeth tore through some of her arm's skin, and she was paralyzed by Thunder Fang's secondary effect that caused paralysis.

Lucy fell to her knees while the electricity was keeping her from lifting a finger, and she thought about summoning a Celestial Spirit to assist her in this battle. It would probably be a risky move, but it had to be done. Besides, having another ally in this fight would be good. Sting and Kira were currently dealing with the sight of Akina's loyal followers walking towards the church to defend their leader, and the Sabertooth mages would need to keep them busy. As Lucy fought through the electric shocks to make her right hand pull out one of the golden keys, she could hear Akina dust herself off while starting to snicker in an amused manner.

"After taking all those punches, I might need an aspirin. Still, I am the goddess of Lightning Magic. This powerful electricity has helped me become a beautiful deity, and no one can defeat me. No matter what you do, Voltage Town will stay under my rule." Akina told Lucy in a relaxed tone of voice, really feeling that she'd have the entire fight in her hands.

Lucy replied sternly while glaring at the evil priestess, still wincing from the pain in her right arm, "You may be great at using Lightning Magic, but anyone who manipulates others for evil purposes is far from a deity. You're not a good mother, either. You made Hikari go through so much pain, and the way you've treated her just sickens me."

She didn't even bother to look at the key that was pulled out, feeling like there were too many precious seconds for her to make a different Celestial Spirit appear, and Lucy managed to open the Gate of The Maiden. This caused her pink-haired spirit known as Virgo to be summoned, bowing politely at her mistress for needing her services, and Lucy commanded Virgo to dig a hole. Lucy, Hikari, and Akina were all quite surprised to see the spirit jump up into the air, before spinning around rapidly to look like she'd drill through this section of the white tiled floor that was covered by a yellow carpet leading up to the altar.

Virgo managed to create a large hole in the ground, making Akina comically upset at how she ripped through her precious carpet, and the pink-haired woman emerged from another spot in the floor while she still spun like a drill. Lucy had clearly gotten stronger, as boosting her own level of power would help the Celestial Spirits grow stronger as well, and she simply watched Virgo drill back into the ground for the sake of creating more holes. Was Lucy wanting to make the church fall into a giant hole, or was she aiming for something else to happen?

Akina frowned in annoyance at the sight of Virgo being a nuisance, watching her emerge from the ground after creating a seventh hole in the floor, and that's when the antagonist unleashed a powerful spell known as Electric Delight. She put her hands together while aiming them straight at Virgo, before a spiraling twister of lightning emerged from her fingertips, and this spell was quite fast. It wasted no time with propelling itself from Akina's hands, before striking Virgo in the chest with sheer ferocity, and its high voltage caused her to let out pained screams.

Lucy decided to send Virgo back to the Celestial Spirit World, not wanting her to get badly wounded from the electric explosion that quickly occurred, and she still felt paralyzed while looking up at Akina. She wanted to wipe that smug grin off of the villain's face, but what could Lucy do? She took notice of how a yellow aura was surrounding her body, clearly meaning that this spell could be the start of her actually getting serious, and it seemed like Lucy wouldn't even be able to move. This really frustrated Hikari, who groaned in anger at how she couldn't save the town, and she turned towards Lucy.

"You guys should just take a mission where you play in the mud. The way you use your spells is sure to leave you buried in the ground." Hikari told Lucy with a displeased facial expression, before looking surprised at how Lucy began to smile.

Lucy responded with a small smile on her face, as she managed to grab the orange book and open it to a certain page, "Hikari, you really shouldn't look down on me. In fact, you probably just helped me figure out which spell I need to use."

She activated a move known as Mud Puddle, which simply created a brown puddle of mud in front of her, but this mud had healing purposes while it also came with an added effect. Lucy moved towards the mud while struggling through being paralyzed, but she wasn't fast enough to dodge Akina's fifth spell that was known as Electric Slicer. That spell appeared from Akina's right hand, as it looked just like a buzz-saw blade, and Akina threw it like a boomerang. It headed straight towards Lucy, before curving around to show off its trickiness, and Akina laughed at the sight of Lucy being struck from behind!

The mage from Fairy Tail was hit by the electrical explosion, causing her to scream in pain while she quickly placed her hands into the puddle of mud, but an orange aura began to engulf Lucy's body. Steam rose out of her wounds while they began to heal from the effects of this hot mud, and Lucy's paralysis was starting to wear off. The harsh wound from the Thunder Fang began to heal as well while Lucy regained that lost skin, and this spell was surprisingly going to be a smart lead into Lucy's next attack. After all the damage she took from Akina, it was time to retaliate.

Lucy looked at the next page in the orange book to see that the mud could allow her to create a spell called Muddy Bomb, and she watched the hot mud in her hands take the shape of a mud ball. She was impressed by how it felt dense, not soft like normal mud, and Lucy threw it straight at Akina before she chose to stand up. The green-eyed priestess arrogantly let it strike her in the stomach, before the sight of an orange explosion certainly gave her quite a shock, and Akina became wounded from Lucy's spell. The Earth Magic certainly shook up how the battle was going, but it still wasn't over.

Akina said aloud in a somewhat annoyed manner while she created a spinning ball of lightning in her hand, giving it enough power to set off waves of electricity, "Attention, my loyal followers in Voltage Town. An intruder thinks that she can kill me, so eliminate her precious friends."

* * *

 **Outside of the church...**

The guards had been beaten down by Kira, who defeated them with fiery punches that were filled with the heat, and the mages walking towards the church had simply stayed away from her and Sting while Lucy was fighting Akina. The red-haired merchant and Sting hadn't forgotten that mages in this town were not permitted to attack outsiders, unless the leader gave them permission to do so, and the duo from Sabertooth simply stood in front of the church to block Akina's followers from getting in. Lucy's fight with Akina had gone on for twenty minutes now, and Sting felt like he would soon be able to go inside and help her. After all, he never liked hearing Lucy scream in pain.

Unfortunately, however, the seven mages who stared down Sting and Kira began to glare at them in an unsettling manner while some of them removed their hoods. Kira and her friend clearly heard Akina give an order to her followers, watching their eyes turn yellow while they began to charge up Lightning Magic in their hands, but Kira was clever enough to not let those freaky mages fire any attacks that would go in the church to possibly kill Lucy. She grabbed Sting's hand while running towards the statue, wanting to hide behind it for the sake of forming a quick plan, but she saw Sting's face change from a confident expression to one that showed pure fear.

"Sting, get a grip. I know that you're afraid of how evil those people can be when they're possessed, but I'm sure that you don't want them to lay a hand on Lucy." Kira told him in a stern tone, not wanting the entire team to end up dying in this town.

The blue-eyed male replied in a fearful tone while remembering the electricity that killed anyone who opposed Akina, "I also don't want to get shocked to death."

As Kira went out from behind the statue for the sake of trying to defeat those mages with some of her powerful fireballs, Sting became frustrated while he thought about how this situation was similar to what happened in last year's Grand Magic Games. When Sting stood in front of the five people who represented Fairy Tail's team, he could see that they were strong mages who weren't afraid to go against him. They were planning to strike him down with all of their strength, which would've probably knocked him out, and Sting ended up surrendering because of how winning wouldn't allow him to reunite with Lector.

This situation also involved powerful mages who would attack Sting with no hesitation, possessed by Akina's desire to have him and Kira be killed, but Sting groaned at the thought of running away. He couldn't just leave Lucy and Kira here to fight against these manipulated freaks. If he did that, then he'd just be a guild master who didn't care about his friends. That would certainly be bad for his reputation, and Sting didn't want Lucy to think of him as a selfish jerk. That would be bad for their friendship, and she probably wouldn't want to be in a relationship with him.

She liked how Sting was such a cool guy who enjoyed how his White Dragon Slayer Magic could supposedly purify all things, and Sting's confident personality was really appealing to Lucy. He wanted to be the caring boyfriend who would be able to pick Lucy up when she felt down, being there for her when she needed him, and he did initially come here solely to protect her. It would be a complete slap in the face to Lucy if Sting couldn't even save her from getting hurt, and he began to clench his fists. Not only was Lucy's life at stake, but the lives of Voltage Town's mages were important as well.

Sting came out from behind the statue to get a glimpse of a girl removing her hood to show her messy purple hair and yellow eyes that looked emotionless, seeing her charge towards Kira in an angry manner, and Sting felt like the anger and viciousness that these mages felt came from how they let themselves be overtaken by the dreadful fear of not wanting to be killed by Akina. Sting actually saw one of the dead mages in the church be dead with a strange smile of happiness on her face, almost like her heart was showing how she could finally be free from Akina's evil, and these possessed mages just had to see the light.

A guy with blue hair in a bowl-cut hairstyle arrogantly told Sting while catching sight of him, preparing to use the Electric Delight spell that Akina activated earlier, "My bright lightning will make you turn into pure ashes, so get shocked and meet your death!"

Sting responded with a stern look on his face while he gathered white light into his hand for the sake of using White Dragon's Claw, "Look here, buddy. The light of the white dragon purifies all things, and your spell has no brightness to it. Those lightning spells are flashy, but your lightning has no shine to it when the darkness of your leader's will is infused with it."

He actually said that loud enough for Lucy and Hikari to hear those words, wanting the worrisome girl with green eyes to realize that her insane mother's Lightning Magic wasn't all that strong, and Lucy turned around to simply smile at Sting while feeling like she could think of this evil priestess as a dark mage. Akina may have believed that she was a priestess who could rule Voltage Town with her lightning that was supposedly holy, but she had still been a dark wizard who lost her mind from letting Lightning Magic corrupt her. She merely frowned at Sting's words, and felt ready to end this battle.

Hikari was surprised at the sight of Lucy using the Earth Magic's orange aura to remove the mud from her arms while a smile of confidence was on her face, not losing faith in her ability to win, and she turned to see Kira unleash a beam of fire from her mouth. She set some of the possessed mages on fire, burning them while panting heavily, but Kira still smiled at the sight of Sting tackling down two mages who tried running towards the church. Even though Voltage Town seemed creepy and dark, Hikari began to see some light. She had really wondered how Lucy could still want to fight against the cult leader, especially after dealing with five painful spells, but then Hikari began to slightly smile from understanding that Lucy wasn't concerned with the odds of winning. In fact, she was focused on how she felt determined to beat Akina.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 10? Feel free to give me feedback on it. I know this chapter was pretty tense, but the next chapter won't have as much tension.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Shocks and Voltage, Part 3**

* * *

Akina grinned at Lucy and Hikari in a devious manner while wanting to make them be punished for how they were opposing her, feeling no need to continue playing around with the girls who she perceived to be trash, and she threw the spinning ball of lightning that was in her right hand. The evil priestess aimed the attack straight at Lucy, glad that this attack was known as Lightning Bomb, and it would certainly create quite a blast. The spell was fired quite fast while it seemed to have precision as well, but Lucy wasn't going to keep taking a beating from her opponent's electric spells.

Lucy was able to dodge to her right, which allowed Akina's spell to fly out of the church, and both of the women soon saw Kira evade the attack that actually hit one of the mages who was struggling against her. Lucy wanted to feel like Akina totally misfired, but seeing her grin be followed by the sounds of satisfied laughter was quite unsettling. Akina also clapped her hands at how the spell made quite a massive explosion of yellow lightning occur, and it had left behind a large crater that was between the church and the statue. The guy who was struck by the attack had felt tons of pain from it while he was bleeding on the ground, but his cult leader felt no remorse.

"Well, he was certainly losing his usefulness. It's such a shame that a deity like myself must have followers who can't handle my strength, but I guess that some jewels in a town are nothing more than garbage." Akina said in a calm manner while getting ready to use another attack, her eyes evilly looking relaxed about what just happened.

Lucy replied in a harsh manner as she looked quite angry about what her foe just said, "That person was following your orders, and they were on your side. You're more of a sociopath than a deity, and you're a monster! One of your allies was killed, and the fact that you're so calm about it is just evil!"

Akina briefly ended the chatter by firing another spell at Lucy, and this move was known as Volt's Beam. She fired the attack from her left hand while liking how it was a beam of lightning that spiraled, having sparks of electricity come off of it, and Akina felt like this attack would end up killing Lucy. This was quite a powerful spell that could even create a gaping hole in the precious church of Voltage Town, but Akina's smile soon turned into a shocked look when she caught sight of her blonde-haired foe flipping through the pages in her orange spell book.

Lucy saw some lines in orange text while she seemed to like the spell's description, and she wasted no time with activating a new spell known as Sand Claw. This spell caused a high amount of dense sand to surround Lucy's left hand, and this technique allowed her to try blocking Akina's spell. The beam pushed hard against Lucy's hand, but she still stood up while sliding backwards. It seemed like she brought out a useless spell, but Sand Claw was about to show its side effect. Akina and Hikari both looked surprised to see that the dirt in the church was starting to be drawn to the Sand Claw, jumping up towards it, and this was quite a useful move.

The dirt swirled around the claw that was made of sand, making its light brown color become a darker shade of brown, and this spell caused the dirt to give the sandy claw more density. Lucy could now walk forward quite easily while she watched Akina's attack begin to lose power, and her claw simply got a burn mark in the center when the lightning beam exploded. That only made Akina look quite surprised, as no one had ever blocked Volt's Beam in the past, but she was not about to lose. The priestess put her hands together while feeling like her next spell would make Lucy beg for mercy, but would it be useful?

Akina unleashed a spell called Lightning Ganreizu, and it caused her to shoot out seven balls of yellow lightning from her mouth. They floated around in a circle while quickly heading straight for Lucy, who decided to run towards one of the seven holes that Virgo created earlier, and Akina gasped in shock at how Lucy unleashed her sixth spell from the book. Hikari took a moment to get on her knees for the sake of looking down into one of holes, and she was wondering what Lucy was going to do with so much dirt. This battle had been earthy, muddy, sandy, and rocked. How crazy was this fight going to get?

"You claim to be against me, but we're so much alike. All mages pick certain types of magic, and they dispose of magic that's no longer needed. You shouldn't act like I'm evil, when I'm a goddess who has holy light." Akina told Lucy in a sadistic manner, before watching her seven balls of electricity strike Lucy for the sake of putting a tremendous shock to her system.

Hikari exclaimed in a concerned manner while she began to stand up, seeing Lucy scream in agonizing pain from the lightning that engulfed her body, "Lucy, you could end up dying! We should just retreat, or my mother could bring out her two remaining spells!"

Lucy replied in a stern manner while she was doing her best to endure the electricity, not wanting to give in, "Akina, you know nothing about us. Some wizards do dispose of magic that they don't like, but that doesn't make us evil. You're just insane, and I won't lose here! Hikari, I'm not gonna forget how you came to Fairy Tail and were so exhausted. You want to make Voltage Town be a place where you don't live in fear, and I swear that I'll bring an end to all the pain you've suffered!"

The Celestial Spirit Wizard fell to the ground while she felt the lightning around her body begin to enter her mouth, as it was probably going to paralyze her from within, but Lucy wasn't about to die here. She used another spell that was known as Sand's Vengeance, and this move worked well with the seven holes that had been dug. The dirt in the holes began to change into light brown sand that rose up from each hole to create powerful twisters of sand, spinning in a clockwise direction while they had lots of power, but Lucy also thought about the electricity that had gone inside of her.

She focused her magical power on the twisters of sand, believing that they had the high speed of Lightning Ganreizu, and an orange aura briefly surrounded Lucy's body to discharge that Lightning Magic by making its energy be sent into her sand twisters! They began to spin much faster, kicking up several clouds of dust, and the twisters obeyed Lucy's mental command to charge at Akina. The antagonist was hastily hit by one of the twisters that had been made with dense sand, before being struck by another one, and the other five twisters also struck her to create a massive explosion of earthy energy! The orange blast was quite large, as its force sent Lucy and Hikari flying backwards, and that attack was just Lucy getting back at Akina for Lightning Ganreizu's ferocity.

The clouds of smoke cleared up to reveal that Akina was heavily wounded by that attack, as she probably hadn't been used to her Lightning Magic's high amount of speed being used against her in such a clever way, and the villain attempted to keep her balance while she panted in an exhausted manner. Lucy also panted while she seemed tired, as using six spells of Earth Magic could use up tons of magical power, and she wanted this fight to end soon. Hikari watched Lucy struggle to stand up while she could use one last spell, and Akina hadn't been able to feed on the Lightning Magic of her followers during this fight. Would this battle come down to physical strength?

Akina activated her last spell that was known as Electric Grind, watching a small vortex of lightning begin to surround her left hand, and she used her remaining amount of strength to run towards Lucy. This only prompted Lucy to activate her seventh regular spell of Earth Magic, and it was known as Sand Shuriken's Pummeling. This move caused seven brown shuriken to appear around Lucy's right fist, and she set the book down for a moment while watching the seven projectiles turn into sand. The light brown sand started to surround Lucy's fist, just like with the Sand Claw, but the main difference was that the orange aura from earlier had only engulfed her right fist.

"I may have lost some speed, but this move is strong enough to finish you off! I am the goddess of lightning, and no mere trash shall defeat me! You will all see me as the electric deity, and I am a wizard whose lightning shows my loveliness!" Akina yelled fiercely while she looked very annoyed at the sight of Lucy, still running towards her.

Lucy responded with a harsh glare on her face, running towards Akina while she was going to bring this battle to an end, "You're not a goddess that I would ever worship! Sting and Kira will make your followers be free from your arrogance, and I'll make sure that no one else will have to deal with your darkness!"

Hikari was quite surprised by how Lucy managed to put up a great fight against her mother, possibly turning the tables in her favor, and the girl with wavy blonde hair felt amazed by how Lucy had so much confidence in herself. Even though those seven spells were new, Lucy didn't lose the will to win. Hikari could only watch Lucy and Akina strike each other in the face with their respective attacks, before being sent sliding backwards, and being worn out at the end of this fight made those punches be evenly matched.

Lucy and Akina stared each other down for a few seconds, both women feeling shaky, but who would win? Hikari watched the aura around Lucy's right hand begin to fade away while her hand turned back to normal, as the mage from Fairy Tail felt quite exhausted, and that only made Akina smile. She managed to have a devious look in her eyes, looking around the church to see how it was badly damaged, and the antagonist soon fell backwards to land on the yellow carpet. Akina was quick to lose consciousness, meaning that Lucy won, and that was quite a good battle.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, outside the church...**

Kira managed to kick two of Akina's followers into the air, before striking them with two rings of fire that she unleashed from her mouth, and making contact with those flaming attacks had caused the possessed mages to be set on fire! Kira quickly leaped away from them, before seeing her Fire Magic explode to create two fiery blasts that certainly brought heat to the battlefield, and the remaining mages chose to flee the scene. Kira wouldn't let them just leave the scene, however, and she ran after them with her hazel eyes narrowed.

Sting had used White Dragon's Claw to immobilize the guy who had blue hair, the white stigma on his body preventing him from activating any spells, and the blond-haired dragon slayer punched the villain right in the face. He slammed into the stone statue that was shaped like a lightning bolt, before falling to the ground, and Sting was pretty glad to have taken out one of the manipulated mages. He planned on helping Kira by beating up the four mages who were trying to run away, but Sting and Kira were surprised to see what happened when the mages passed by the church.

The possessed mage who had messy purple hair told her friends in a shocked tone, "Our priestess! She's... been defeated!"

One of her allies who wore his white hood replied with a frown on his face, "That girl beat our leader. Man, what do we do? Our cult can't function without a leader."

Kira and Sting smiled at the sight of Hikari helping Lucy walk out of the church while the daughter of the evil priestess held the Electric Crystal in her right hand, happy to see that their friends managed to prevail in that tough fight, and Sting was actually worried about Lucy. He hoped to finish off the possessed enemies quickly for the sake of helping Lucy fight against Akina, but it looked like she managed to win. Defeating Akina would certainly bring peace to the town of Voltage, but what would happen to her followers?

Sting gave Lucy a calm hug while smiling at her, glad that she wasn't severely injured, and the light dragon slayer felt his cheeks blush a light shade of pink from how Lucy hugged him back. He was pretty glad that Lucy gave him a reason to come to this town, as Sting was able to face his fear, and Sting really wanted to thank her for that. There was the possibility that she'd want to go out on another date with him, which would be quite nice, but Sting would want Lucy to be fully healed. After all, it was quite concerning for him to hear her wince in pain.

Kira watched Hikari step away from Lucy and Sting for a moment, seeing the green-eyed girl look like she felt bad about getting people involved in her town's problems, but stopping Akina didn't entirely make Hikari feel the happiness that she wanted to obtain. She saw some more mages in white hoods walk towards the church while they came from different directions, most likely getting back from jobs that were sent to the church's yellow request board, and seeing some of the people look distraught at the sight of Akina being unconscious on the yellow carpet had helped Hikari realize that what she was about to do would be good for everyone.

She remembered how her mother would gently tap the Electric Crystal for it to send out electric waves that could make Voltage Town's mages be under her control, but it did also work in reverse. Hikari let out a calm sigh while she let her left hand gently touch the Electric Crystal, causing it to emit electric waves, and the mages simply stood still while waiting for an order. The waves even reached out to mages like Ayame, who were walking back to town from the nearby forest, so the Electric Crystal was just as powerful as the two other Rainbow Crystals that were with Lucy.

"Hello, my fellow mages. You all know me as Akina's daughter, and she made you see me as an evil traitor. If you still think I'm evil, then allow me to give you an order. From this day forward, the cult is disbanded. We are all mages in Voltage Town who should make our town be sparking and bright, not have a dark cult that puts fear into the townspeople who live among us. The church will be repaired, and it can still be our guild while no one shall be possessed!" Hikari told her friends in a calm tone while she held up the yellow crystal, seeing it brightly glow for a moment.

Kira commented in a pleased manner as she looked satisfied, "Well, that will certainly light up Voltage Town. Even though we didn't get to explore the city, at least we get to see this."

The light from the Electric Crystal was quite amazing, as it managed to free the followers of Akina from her manipulation, and the yellow eyes of those mages turned back to their normal colors. Many of the mages felt like they had terrible migraines, almost like their use of powerful Lightning Magic had stressed them out, and some of them even fell down from having to use powerful spells on multiple jobs for the past few days. There were some mages who were even exhausted from having to let Akina feed on their Lightning Magic, and other mages were surprised to be standing here right now.

Most of the mages looked past Hikari's group to get a glimpse of inside the church, seeing the cracks in the floor while Lucy's sand twisters detonated to create some large craters in the ground, but they were very surprised to see that Akina was down on the ground. Some of the spells had enough force to make the dead mages fall off of the brown benches that were in the church, and the former followers of Akina were quite shocked to see that their close friends were now dead. This was quite a heavy situation for them all to take in, as their minds had been manipulated by Akina for such a long time, but Hikari didn't want anyone to start blaming themselves or feeling like they should've defected when they were released from any of Akina's commands.

* * *

 **40 minutes later...**

Hikari had waited for most of Voltage Town's mages to show up, wanting them to assist her with truly expressing the town's gratitude for the three protagonists who chose to bring an end to the cult that once ruled over the town, and Hikari was currently standing on one of the town's streets that was paved in asphalt. She stood on the street with a smile on her face, as she was in front of all the mages who were now free from rituals that involved killing each other, and Hikari simply looked at the three wizards who were standing on a long dirt path that led back to Magnolia. They'd probably have to go on the mountainous path to get there, but they didn't care.

Lucy was about to start walking off with Sting and Kira, as she was somewhat worried about the dark clouds that had been floating over the town for over an hour, but Hikari cleared her throat while feeling like she needed to do something important. Lucy, Sting, and Kira all turned around to give her confident smiles, glad that they helped her out, and they'd probably get a reward for it. Voltage Town had lots of money that Akina stashed away in one of the church's rooms, but Hikari was able to realize that there was only one way for herself and Lucy to both thrive in their respective goals as a guild master and a wizard.

"We are all indebted to the three of you, and the townspeople can live among us without feeling scared. I'm going to study hard to improve my Lightning Magic, and I'll hopefully learn some spells that can heal my mother's mind. Still, Lucy, this needs to be in your hands." Hikari explained to the heroic trio in a calm manner, before taking a few steps forward to place the Electric Crystal in Lucy's left palm.

Lucy asked her friend in a surprised manner, as she took a glance at the rhombus-shaped crystal, "Hikari, you seriously want me to have this?"

Ayame responded for Hikari while she walked a few steps towards her friend, her blue eyes filled with some sternness, "We all want you to have the Electric Crystal. It's best that you take it, so that nothing like this will ever happen again. That powerful lightning belongs with you."

As Lucy shook her head in approval to accept the yellow crystal from Hikari, Sting was quite happy to hear Ayame inform her blonde-haired friend that she'd be her assistant. After all, it was only natural for a new guild master to have their closest friend as the assistant. Sting felt that those two girls would start to have a better friendship, possibly as good as his friendship with Rogue, and things would probably start to be great for the town of Voltage. He turned his attention to Lucy for the sake of giving her a calm smile, happy that this was their third mission in a row where they found success, and Sting really liked how fate made them be in this town.

The dark clouds began to float away from the town, no longer obscuring the sun that proceeded to send some light down on this nice place, and a brighter atmosphere allowed Lucy to see how Voltage Town had a cute little bakery on a nearby street while there was also a power plant in the town as well. She also saw that Voltage Town had its own fashion store that surprisingly sold those white robes with the white hoods, along with other types of clothes, but Lucy wouldn't shop there. After all, she did have to get back home and inform Wendy that everything was okay now.

Kira pulled out the brown flyer from the right pocket of her red shorts, smiling quite nicely while she let it be viewed by some of the mages who could see it, and the red-haired merchant certainly didn't forget about how a client wanted Voltage Town's fearsome cult to stop causing trouble. Since that job was now complete, then the trio would need to receive their nice payment of 600,000 jewels. That actually caused Ayame to start laughing, as Voltage Town had far more money than that, and it wouldn't be any trouble to give that small portion of money to the protagonists.

"You know, for a cult leader, Akina was surprisingly good at making her followers take jobs that brought in high profits." Sting told Lucy in a relaxed manner, before showing off a confident smile to impress her.

Lucy replied to him while giving him a playful punch, "Sting, just be grateful that Sabertooth can get cool jobs."

Kira ran to the church in a happy manner to not only get her money, but she also wanted to let Sting spend some more time talking to Lucy. They wouldn't mind the fact that Ayame didn't want the hazel-eyed girl to go anywhere in the cathedral, as there were certain rooms that the priestess or guild master could be permitted to enter, but Lucy and Sting would pretty delighted to get some money. This was quite an amazing job, since so many things happened, and Lucy was really starting to feel like some of the tough jobs could involve lots of fun.

She watched Hikari fire a lightning beam into the air for the sake of creating some yellow fireworks that were small, seeing that she was trying to signify that Voltage Town would start moving towards a brighter future, and Lucy looked up at the blue sky while she was starting to feel pretty happy. Spending so much time with Sting had really allowed Lucy to start feeling better about herself, truly starting to feel like she was becoming much stronger, and Lucy wanted to be around Sting more often. She twiddled her thumbs as she wanted to tell him about her desire to officially join Sabertooth, but would she tell him?

They did go out on a date recently, though, and Lucy didn't want Sting to feel like she wanted to rush into anything with him. It would probably be shocking for him to hear that she wanted to join his guild on the same day that they brought peace to Voltage Town, but Lucy could save that news for their walk to Magnolia. It seemed like they could enjoy a nice time with talking about how resting would be very important, as it was pretty tough to battle the mages who were under Akina's control, and Lucy would probably need to recover from her fierce battle with that evil priestess.

Lucy panted a bit while she took a step towards the dirt path that led to the mountains, prompting Hikari to give her a calm look that indicated that taking the train would be better, and the sight of Kira coming back with a large bag of money made Lucy feel like it would be nice to not get robbed while the trio was somewhat tired. Sting looked a bit surprised to see Lucy walk away from him to head towards Voltage Town's train station, causing him to be pretty displeased about getting motion sickness again, but it would probably be faster than walking all the way to Magnolia.

"Goodbye, Hikari! Take care!" Lucy told her new friend in a happy manner, as the train slowly opened up its doors to let passengers in.

Hikari replied nicely while calmness was in her green eyes, glad to have met Lucy and her friends, "Thanks again for your help, and try to find more of the Rainbow Crystals!"

* * *

 **On the train...**

After Lucy got on the train with Sting and Kira, the trio decided to sit down at two of the red seats that were facing each other while they were separated by a brown end table. Kira put the team's bag of jewels down on the table while she smiled in a delighted manner, feeling pretty good that such a tense mission came with a fine profit, and she simply watched Lucy open up the orange spell book for a moment. Testing out spells against an experienced wizard was quite a big risk, but it thankfully worked. After all, that situation could've gone from shocking to pretty hopeless if Lucy hadn't used those spells in smart ways.

Sting was currently groaning in pain while he felt like throwing up, as the train's doors closed while the train itself was starting to leave Voltage Town, and motion sickness was quite a harsh weakness for a dragon slayer to have. Lucy looked quite concerned for Sting, as she started to flip through the pages in her book to see if Earth Magic included any healing spells, and she assumed that Sting and Rogue had to deal with motion sickness on the night that they departed from Kasai Town. It was a real shame that Wendy wasn't here, but Kira had luckily been learning more spells of Fire Magic.

"I'll heal you, Sting, since it keeps the other passengers from having to deal with your gross puking. After all, your groaning could sound scary." Kira told him while smiling in a somewhat snarky manner, before her left hand became engulfed in a red aura."

Sting replied a few seconds later, after Kira roughly punched him in the abs with her left hand, "I think the possessed mages in Voltage Town ran away from you because of how your smile was pretty scary to look at, especially before using a fire attack. Heat doesn't go well with a gruesome smile."

Kira simply folded her arms and scoffed, almost wishing she didn't use the spell known as Healer's Burning Flame, and that rough punch could actually heal a majority of ailments. It was quite similar to the Troia spell that Wendy could use, as it could even get rid of poison, and Sting's face began to regain its color. He was pretty glad that his teammate healed him, despite the fact that Kira could sometimes get him into some crazy situations, and Sting softly smiled at how Lucy was giggling at his remark to Kira. Making her laugh was a good thing for their friendship, right?

As Lucy felt like talking to Sting about getting some delicious food from one of the restaurants in Magnolia, she was unable to hide the light pink blush that was on her cheeks. Lucy was cutely trying to hide the fact that she really wanted to ask Sting about joining Sabertooth, really hoping that she could meet the requirements to get into that guild, and she really wanted to not blurt it out. She did desire to be part of Sabertooth, though, and Lucy only felt like it wouldn't be the best time to discuss it. She didn't want to shock Sting or Kira, but wouldn't it need to be said?

Lucy even thought about how Hikari was able to have enough courage for reasoning with Akina, something that really required her to muster up lots of courage, and that was quite brave. If Hikari was a struggling mage who could find the strength to do that, then couldn't Lucy find the strength to just tell Sting that she wanted to be in his guild? The two mages did tend to highly blush when they were having friendly moments, as they could totally feel the chemistry between them, and people who wanted to date each other had to not keep secrets. Whether or not it would make Sting feel like Lucy wanted their friendship to escalate fast, she needed to stop holding back.

"Listen, Sting. I know this comes on the heels of us finishing that job in Voltage Town, but please accept me into your guild! I like it when we're together, and I'll work pretty hard!" Lucy told Sting in a strong tone of voice while her cheeks were still filled with a pink blush, really hoping that was the right thing to do.

Sting responded as he grinned confidently while joy started to enter his blue eyes, "You can totally join Sabertooth, Lucy! I'd enjoy being closer to you, instead of us having to just meet up on jobs. You'd be pretty happy to have lunch in my guild, since we've got a buffet."

Kira nicely told Lucy while she remembered what happened one day, wanting to giggle about it, "If you join Sabertooth, you should totally visit one of the towns where the wind can give you free stuff. Sting wouldn't want to see up your skirt, but the wind almost blew him away once."

Lucy and Kira began to chuckle about that while Sting just simply smirked about it, as the wind couldn't stop him from grabbing on to a building that was made from bricks, and the trio was certainly involved in crazy adventures. Rogue would also get caught up in some of Kira's crazy schemes, as he once had to buy four bags of rice for her to make large rice balls, and having Lucy in the Sabertooth guild would just make every situation become far more interesting. In fact, she'd probably like some of the tasks that the team would need to handle.

As the trio was happy that they were going to Magnolia, however, a certain white-haired barmaid was sitting in the seat that was directly behind where Lucy currently sat. She peeked over the seat for a second to see that Lucy was indeed on the train, having openly said that she was going to join Sabertooth, and Mira was quite surprised. She had taken a job that involved watching out for suspicious criminals on the train, not even caring that Voltage Town and Magnolia were the only towns on the train's schedule today, but the barmaid smiled while proceeding to look out the window and think about how the members of Fairy Tail would react to this juicy gossip.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 11? I really hope that you're all liking my story. It was so fun to write this arc in the story, but I hope it's not too slow-paced. Feel free to leave your thoughts or criticisms. They're greatly appreciated. Also, here are some shout-outs.**

 **Cascade Cheney: Thanks for the awesome support and good suggestions you've given me. I'm glad that you like my writing, and I like your stories as well.**

 **FireBlitz: I'm glad that you're looking forward to more StiCy moments. I am, too. Also, thanks for liking the development I've given to Sting.**

 **GhostMoonWolf: I never got around to thanking you for reviewing Chapters 6 & 7\. I'll check out your stories soon. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Leaving Fairy Tail**

* * *

Lucy woke up to the sight of sunlight coming in through the window of her apartment, signaling that it was a new day, and she slightly groaned while proceeding to get the pink comforter off of her body. This would probably be the third day in a row where Lucy needed to stay in bed, as the blonde-haired girl spent the previous two days resting to regain her magical power, and healing up from her injuries also took time. Lucy was now feeling slight amounts of pain in her body, especially in her arms and legs, but it was better than how she felt a few days ago.

Even though Lucy managed to bring down Akina and make Voltage Town spark with light, the amount of damage that she suffered in that fight was quite immense. Those fast-moving spells of Lightning Magic were nothing to laugh about, since a spell's high level of speed could boost its overall power, and Lucy certainly felt the vicious effects of Akina's lightning spells. It had been really nice for Lucy to be accompanied by Sting and Kira while they helped her walk back to her apartment, only choosing to leave because she informed them that she'd feel better in a few days, but the past two days were filled with aches and pains.

The worst part about being injured was that Wendy and Carla were sent out to handle something that was supposedly an emergency in a far-off town, which meant that Lucy wouldn't have been able to heal much quicker, but Lucy decided to not let her minor wounds get in the way of what she'd do today. After all, missing two days of work was already quite a hindrance for completing the monthly task of paying her apartment's rent. Lucy decided to get out of bed with a calm look on her face, ready to start her day off with a shower, and she was about to take off her pink pajamas.

As Lucy proceeded to remove her pajamas, though, she gasped in a surprised manner from hearing two voices outside. The Celestial Spirit Wizard walked towards her window while not being hesitant to see who was talking, and the voices belonged to Natsu and Gray. The fire dragon slayer appeared to be smiling happily as he sounded really excited for today, almost wanting to celebrate, but what would be the occasion? He felt like dancing, before Gray merely scoffed at his happiness, and that just caused Natsu to glare at the black-haired male. In his mind, it wasn't appropriate to scoff right now.

"This is a pretty big deal, you stripper! If Lisanna and her sister have something to tell the guild, then I want to hear it! After all, Lisanna is so pretty and kind. She's also very tough and smart, too. You just don't care because no girl wants to date you." Natsu rudely told his icy rival, before dreamily thinking about his sweet girlfriend who he loved so much.

Gray retorted while he seemed offended by Natsu's last sentence, "Girls probably do want to date me, flame-brain. If I was doing jobs with my girlfriend, we wouldn't be making out on the way to a town like you do with Lisanna! I'm just trying to tell you that this is probably nothing to get excited over, and you're only hyped for the news because Mira told it to Lisanna."

That prompted Gray and Natsu to get into a scuffle on the street while they were outside Lucy's apartment, not even caring that she could hear the sounds of fists hitting faces, and Lucy chose to just walk away from her window. Her mind went back to the thought of starting this morning off with a shower, as she hadn't taken a bath for the past two days, and Lucy began taking off her pajamas. She walked towards the bathroom while feeling like today could be a pretty great day, but Lucy may not get to handle a job with Sting.

He would probably handle jobs with Kira or Rogue today, since none of them would want Lucy to be on a mission while she was still injured, so that left Lucy with one major task to take care of. In fact, she had been putting it off for a while. Lucy looked at the back of her right hand to see the pink insignia of the Fairy Tail guild, seeing how it represented that she was a mage in that guild, and Lucy had wanted it to be effaced after she was rejected by Natsu. Rejection was tough to deal with, but simply getting rid of her guild mark would be easy.

Lucy would need Makarov to erase her guild mark, which would allow her to truly part ways with the Fairy Tail guild, and that would allow her to join Sabertooth for a somewhat fresh start. She worked alongside Sting on three jobs now, already making her feel like she was part of Sabertooth, and there wasn't any excitement for her to find in Fairy Tail. Lucy wouldn't even want to take a flyer from that guild's request board, as she would probably have to handle the job by herself, and going on a tough job with only her Celestial Spirits could prove to be difficult.

Lucy still had the orange spell book, but no spells of Earth Magic would emerge when she called upon them. That was probably because of how her magical power needed to fully recharge from the intense fight in Voltage Town, and using seven spells for one fight could really drain a wizard. She wouldn't be able to rely on the book's spells, and Earth Magic probably wouldn't allow its aura to engulf her hands for the sake of strengthening her punches. Since the book couldn't be used right now, Lucy would just need to focus on leaving Fairy Tail.

 _"After the day where I found out that I was betrayed by my friends, meeting Kira and Sting caused me to feel somewhat better. I enjoyed meeting Rogue, too. Kira's crazy shenanigans allowed me to have adventures with Sting, and I want to be closer to him. I also think Lector is a cute Exceed."_ Lucy thought to herself with a soft smile on her face, as her mind began to take her back to the times that were spent with the light dragon slayer.

Lucy continued to have thoughts while starting to narrow her eyes, thinking that this was something she had to do, _"I've been really lucky to have not interacted with Natsu or Erza for a while. They probably won't even care about how I felt ignored by them, and I won't even tell those two about how I'd feel better in Sabertooth."_

Lucy took off her bra and underwear as well, putting them next to her pajamas on the floor, and she proceeded to turn on her shower's faucet for hot water. She closed her eyes while letting the hot water fall on to her skin, starting to feel the heat of the water, and a yawn escaped her lips while she still felt tired. Lucy's shower would be followed by a hot bath that would soothe her muscles, wanting her body to feel less sore, and that bath of relaxation would allow Lucy to have more calmness when she would get her guild mark erased.

After all, there would be some people who could notice that her mark was effaced. Lucy would simply have to explain that she was going to have adventures with her new comrades in the Sabertooth guild, as she enjoyed having them as allies, and she hoped that everyone wouldn't chastise her for that decision. Lucy wanted some of her close friends to respect her choice to leave, as only she had control of her life, but there would be people against her decision. Regardless, after breakfast, she would have to take care of that matter.

* * *

 **30 minutes later, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Lucy, along with Wendy and Carla, hadn't been in the Fairy Tail guild right now to hear what Mirajane was going to say. Everyone else was simply sitting down at tables in the guild while they had either heard from Lisanna about today's announcement, or they were just not handling a job right now. What was Mira going to talk about? Since Lisanna wanted people to be in Fairy Tail's guild this morning, it must've been some surprising news. It could be the announcement of Mira suddenly becoming rich, or maybe she found a rare item.

Some people chatted among themselves while being curious about the possibility of Fairy Tail having another S-Class trial, wondering if that exam would transpire on the island of Tenroujima, and other people were thinking that Mira was going to be the next guild master. The white-haired barmaid stood in front of the bar with a calm smile on her face while Lisanna happily sat down at a table with the other members of Team Natsu, and Elfman was simply standing behind the bar while looking manly as always. Still, what would the announcement be?

"Hello, everyone. I've kept this news to myself for about three days now, and I was pretty shocked when I first heard it on the train. It seems like someone is going to leave Fairy Tail soon, and she's going to be in Sabertooth. Apparently, she's been doing jobs with Sting Eucliffe and there's chemistry between them." Mirajane told the guild with a somewhat disappointed facial expression, kinda sad that a friend was going to leave.

Natsu exclaimed in a shocked manner, after spitting out the hot cocoa that Mira served to him earlier, "What?! The person who's leaving our guild is dating Sting?! Out of all the people on Earthland, she's seeing that jerk?! She must have bad skills in dating, if she likes arrogant guys like him!"

Mira's blue eyes noticed that Natsu and the other team members were pretty surprised to find out that kind of news, especially since they didn't exactly like the wizards in Sabertooth because of how they were quite arrogant, and Natsu himself was wondering about who in their right mind would leave Fairy Tail to join Sabertooth. It didn't make any sense to Natsu or Erza, since their guild was currently the best one in Fiore, and Sabertooth was the guild that used to be the best. Why join a guild that got knocked off of its high pedestal in the Grand Magic Games?

Gray wasn't exactly miffed about this certain individual's decision, as he could try to look at things from a rather logical point of view, and the mage with dark blue eyes was able to calm himself down. There could be some circumstances that were beyond the Fairy Tail guild's control, such as how this person could want to move into a town that was near Sabertooth, and it would make sense to be part of a guild that was close by. It would be sad for Gray to see this person leave the guild, but there was nothing that he could do about it.

Lisanna was concerned about Natsu, as she really hoped that he wasn't going to unleash his frustration out on Lucy, and she felt lucky that Mira told her about how it was Lucy before Natsu could've asked about it. If there was going to be a physical confrontation, however, then Lisanna would do her best to knock Natsu out with a few punches. She didn't like seeing Natsu eavesdrop on Lucy's conversation with Sting during their date, since their talks were not even part of his business, and she was really hoping that he wouldn't be able to put the pieces together.

Natsu was the boyfriend of Lisanna, and a girl could never really like it when her lover was focusing attention on someone who they rejected. Natsu had no reason to be mad at Lucy or Sting, especially since he was the person who got paranoid about their friendship, so finding out that it was Lucy would be something that Natsu himself predicted at the cafe. The big upside for Lisanna was that Lucy wouldn't be leaving because she lost her chance with Natsu, and that seemed good. After all, wouldn't it be really bad if she was still holding a grudge?

"Why would someone leave Fairy Tail? Doesn't everyone like it here?" Erza asked aloud in a calm manner, thinking that the departing person was in the room.

Lisanna replied nicely as she tried to give Erza a little hint, "Maybe that certain person didn't feel good about being here."

Erza thought it was pretty strange for someone to not enjoy being in Fairy Tail, even if the fights in the guildhall were very rowdy, and she really felt that this individual was somewhat cowardly for not having the decency to say something earlier. If they were being mistreated by their teammates, then they could've just tried to join a new team. Well, Erza wasn't really in any position to judge someone for not having the decency to say something important. She did that exact same thing to Lucy, and karma was certainly biting her in the butt. After all, what could be worse than having a friend leave Fairy Tail?

The scarlet-haired mage gently placed her left fist on the table while she thought that it could be Lucy, as she hadn't spoken to her for quite a few days, and it seemed like Lucy would be the person to leave. However, Erza smiled while rescinding that thought. Lucy was someone who needed 70,000 jewels to pay her monthly rent, and Fairy Tail always had tons of jobs on the board. Only one of them was interesting to Lucy in the past few days, however, and that was the trip to the Haina Desert. Erza felt like Lucy needed to be here, but she soon turned her attention to Natsu looking like he realized something.

His facial expression became somewhat startled, as he could only pair Sting with one other person in his mind, and that individual was none other than Lucy. Natsu looked like he wanted to say that it was totally scary how he was right about what he assumed at the cafe, since Lucy truly did seem to let her heart move on for her to start seeing Sting, and Mira's words about the person having chemistry with Sting matched Natsu's thoughts about how Lucy was dating Sting. She was obviously leaving behind Fairy Tail to be with him, and the fire dragon slayer wasn't happy about that at all.

Natsu actually began to think that this was Lucy's way of getting back at him for rejecting her, since he did make her feel like she wasted time with him, and Natsu thought that Lucy leaving the guild was her way of telling him that Fairy Tail was a waste of her time. That wasn't entirely true, as her decision wasn't even emotionally fueled by Natsu or Lisanna, and Lucy had her reasons for leaving. In fact, being in Sabertooth could probably help her get better training for enemies who may want to electrify her with dangerous shocks.

* * *

 **40 minutes later...**

Lucy arrived at the Fairy Tail guild with a calm smile on her face, quite glad that she felt very ready to get her guild mark removed, and she would also hope to get this done without a hassle. It seemed like the inside of the guild had just gotten quieter, almost like someone looked through the windows that would let them see Lucy coming to the guild, but the blonde-haired mage wouldn't mind that. If people weren't talking because of Mira's announcement, then it must've been something serious. Lucy would want to hear about what happened, but she'd probably be shocked.

Lucy pushed opened the guild's entrance doors to see that some people were giving her frowns, almost like they weren't happy to see her here, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard slowly took steps into the guildhall. She glanced over at Levy McGarden with a concerned facial expression for a moment, wanting her blue-haired friend to possibly break the silence, but Levy simply had sadness in her eyes as she looked back at Lucy. The silence prompted Lucy to just keep walking forward while she tried to ignore the frowns and stares, and she would simply go upstairs to Makarov's office.

If she had done something that the other guild members didn't like, then Lucy was not going to deny it. She wouldn't start crying if anyone yelled at her for saying that she needed to leave Fairy Tail, as her heart and mind were set on doing that, but would it really be too much trouble for the guild members to at least say something? They probably had their own opinions about Lucy's choice to not be in the Fairy Tail guild anymore, and she'd most likely understand if they were emotional about the fact that she'd leave them behind.

The girl with cocoa brown eyes continued her walk to Makarov's office, getting closer to the stairway that would take her upstairs, but the sound of Gray flipping through a newspaper's pages while he sat on a bar stool had certainly broken the silence. He groaned in frustration while seeing that the newspaper was about ten days old, totally baffled at the fact that one of his closest friends didn't tell him that she spent nearly two weeks doing dangerous jobs, and that issue of the newspaper was less shocking than a picture of Hikari telling a journalist about Lucy in yesterday's newspaper.

"Lucy, is it true? You've gone out on jobs with Sting, but you don't even want to tell us about that? Aren't we your friends?" Gray asked Lucy in a calm manner, as she walked by him.

Lucy replied in a kind manner to Gray, before asking him a question with a surprised facial expression, "Gray, I haven't gone out on jobs with Sting. We handled three tough jobs together, but those jobs didn't come normally. You are my friend, Gray, but I couldn't tell you everything at the time. Wait, how do you even know that I've spent time around Sting?"

Her eyes shifted to Mira, who let out a soft giggle about the gossip that she spread, and Lucy was quite shocked. Mira had gotten into her business, and the fact that she made an announcement today meant that Lucy's desire to leave Fairy Tail was no longer a secret. Lucy narrowed her eyes at Mira while thinking that the white-haired female must've been stalking her for a while, as Mira did like to play matchmaker and observe certain people who went out on dates, but she felt like Mira would've talked about Lucy's dating life a few days earlier if she saw her at the cafe with Sting.

Lucy's jaw dropped for a moment as an idea began to take shape in her mind, however, and she assumed that Mirajane must've been on the train when it stopped in the town of Voltage. Lucy thought that Mira used Transformation Magic to look like one of the possessed mages and see what was going on, but that wasn't exactly the case. Even if that did happen, though, then Mira still would've gone back into the train to finish her job of looking for criminals. She only got to eavesdrop on Lucy because of how she rode the train with Sting and Kira, and Lucy was at fault for saying aloud that she wanted to join Sabertooth.

The Celestial Spirit Wizard felt like chastising Mira for eavesdropping and spreading gossip that had nothing to do with her, but Lucy heard Natsu rudely scoff at her while he sat down at a table with Erza and Lisanna. He had obviously voiced his opinion when Mira made that announcement, perceiving Lucy to only be doing this because she loved Sting, and Lucy started to clench her fists slightly while her gaze turned towards the fire dragon slayer. If he had something to tell her, then he could just say it without holding back.

Natsu got up from his chair while he wouldn't care about what Gray would say about his words towards Lucy, as the fire dragon slayer really felt like he'd be totally right to call his former teammate out on her reason for leaving Fairy Tail, and Natsu honestly felt like Lucy was being selfish. In his mind, Natsu thought that Lucy was just getting her guild mark erased to create a dramatic scene that would make him look like a total jerk for making her experience the feeling of rejection. (Is it a bit neat that I worked in the title of this story like that?)

"Lucy, you're only going to Sabertooth because of how you want to be with that jerk! You only ran to him because of how I rejected you, and that's probably why you've spent at least two weeks avoiding me! In fact, you're just using him to get back at me! If he laughs about breaking your heart, don't even cry to me!" Natsu shouted while looking angry that Lucy was leaving Fairy Tail for a guy that he didn't approve of, thinking that he was her sole reason for wanting to be in Sabertooth.

Lucy replied while looking pretty offended by Natsu talking to her like that, "I'm pretty sure that I'm not a user, Natsu, and I didn't run to Sting! You weren't there when I decided to help a friend avoid a trap on a volcanic island, but I can own up to the fact that I started avoiding you after I was rejected. Natsu, you ignored seven months of my love to be with Lisanna. Ignoring your make-out sessions for two weeks isn't something you can scold me for."

Erza felt like she wanted to convince Lucy to stay while promising to always be her friend, but Lucy gave Erza a harsh glare that informed her that they weren't friends anymore. Hikari's story about her friends being possessed and attacking her had been harsh, but that was different than Lucy's situation of dealing with people who chose to keep secrets from each other. Even though Erza didn't do it to be mean, she still made that bad choice. She simply watched Lucy proceed to walk upstairs to the guild's second floor for the sake of getting her guild mark effaced, and there was nothing more than Erza could do.

She could see the unyielding determination to join Sabertooth in Lucy's eyes, noticing how they were trying to represent her desire to become much stronger, and the scarlet-haired mage really had to wonder about what Lucy had been through. She glanced over at a newspaper that had been on a nearby table where Cana was sitting, simply choosing to take it while Cana didn't seem to care, and the front page was showing a photo from Hikari's interview had caught Erza's interest. As she skimmed through some parts of the page, Erza couldn't believe that Lucy seemed to have dealt with jobs that involved crazy adventures.

* * *

 **Five minutes later...**

Makarov was calmly looking at some papers that had been sent to him by the Magic Council, smiling a bit from seeing one of the papers give praise to Team Natsu for handling a job yesterday that involved taking down a large monster who threatened to destroy a village, and he was quite proud that Fairy Tail's wizards were getting recognized for their success. He hoped that this peace would continue, as there hadn't been any discord that was brought to his attention, but the sound of someone softly knocking on the door distracted him from his thoughts.

The guild master simply stretched out his right hand to turn the doorknob in the clockwise direction, opening the door for whoever was knocking, and Lucy Heartfilia walked into his office. Makarov liked seeing that Lucy wore an open jacket that was dark green, along with an orange midriff shirt that showed her nice stomach, and Lucy also wore some purple jeans to complete the outfit. She was also wearing her favorite flat shoes that were light pink, but Lucy did not come upstairs to just let the guild master see her fashion choices for the day.

"Hello, Master. I would like to have my guild mark erased, and I want to leave Fairy Tail." Lucy told him with a frown on her face, as she was trying to shake off the recent drama.

Makarov asked Lucy while he looked curious, having seen the newspapers on a daily basis, "Why are you leaving, Lucy? Will your next guild be closer to future jobs?"

Lucy replied in a calm manner, as she began to softly smile, "Well, yes. My next guild shall be Sabertooth, and I want to have more amazing adventures on that side of Fiore. I get along well with some people in that guild, and being there will help me continue the challenge involving the Rainbow Crystals."

The guild master responded as he folded his arms, feeling sadness and happiness, "I am sad to see you go, my child. If this is what you want, though, then I won't stop you. I wish you luck with looking for the Rainbow Crystals, Lucy. Wizard Saints such as myself have heard of them, but I haven't even seen one."

As Lucy stretched out her right hand for Makarov to erase her guild mark, she smiled while thinking about doing one last thing that would surely make him feel happy. Lucy's left hand went into the left pocket of her jeans for the sake of pulling out the three crystals that she found on her journey. The sunlight that passed through the window made them become slightly brighter, and Makarov was glad to see that one of his children was doing well with such a tough challenge. After all, three crystals were surely tough to find.

A bright light surrounded the back of Lucy's right hand while Makarov rubbed it, permanently erasing the pink guild mark, and Makarov soon pulled his hand away from Lucy. She glanced at the back of her right hand for a moment while putting the Rainbow Crystals back into the left pocket of her jeans, seeing that her guild mark was erased, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard simply bowed politely to thank Makarov for allowing her to be in Fairy Tail. Lucy proceeded to walk out of the office while not looking back, but she could now look forward to what she'd experience in the future.

Makarov was quite disappointed to see Lucy go, but he felt like she would continue to be successful. He was actually the first person in the guild to read yesterday's newspaper, seeing Hikari talk about how Lucy Heartfilia and her friends from Sabertooth were some of the most amazing wizards in Fiore, and Makarov merely smiled at how Hikari talked about Lucy fighting Akina with a fierce amount of determination. Having the will to never give up was a good quality in a wizard, and Lucy's former guild master was able to respect her decision to leave.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 12? Feel free to review this chapter, and tell me your thoughts on it. Even though I'm the writer, reading this story gets me so excited for what will happen next. I think that's amazing.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Sweet Day For Sabertooth**

* * *

Lucy looked out the window while she sat down in one of the red seats of the train, pretty happy that she was traveling to the town where Sabertooth was located, and a calm smile was on her face. She glanced at the Lacrima Communications Crystal that was on the table, and Lucy was quite glad that she brought it with her. After all, it would be nice to contact Sting when she arrived at his town. That would certainly be a nice way to meet him, especially after two days of not seeing the light dragon slayer, and Lucy began to wonder about how she'd surprise him.

She could be playful and tap him on one of his shoulders, before hiding behind him, and Lucy would be sure to get behind Sting when he turned around. That would be a nice little game, and Sting might enjoy the surprise of seeing Lucy in his town. At the same time, however, the blonde-haired girl really did want to contact him. She was just really excited about being in a new guild, but who wouldn't be? This was Lucy's way of moving on from being in Fairy Tail, as she wanted to have some great experiences in the Sabertooth guild, and she wondered about what it would be like.

There was the slight downside of being in the same guild as Minerva, as Lucy didn't exactly get along well with her in last year's Grand Magic Games, but Lucy was pretty happy about how Kira and Rogue would be there to defend her if Minerva was going to make a fuss about her presence. Lucy would be sure to not let her new guild down in any way, as her skills had improved from last year, and Lucy could thank the orange spell book for that. She hadn't brought out the Electric Crystal to change the book's color yet, though, and that was mainly because of how Lucy couldn't activate any spells right now.

Not being able to use the book's spells caused Lucy to frown at the thought of Sting not letting her join the guild today, feeling like she was just going to end up being a burden to him without enough magical power to even summon a Celestial Spirit, and Lucy looked down at the orange spell book that was in her lap. She didn't even glimpse up at the female train attendant who placed a large white cup of hot mocha coffee next to the Lacrima Crystal, and this coffee was being passed out to celebrate a festival that was taking place in a certain village. As Lucy looked up to see that the coffee was coupled with minty green chocolates that were shaped like leaves, her Lacrima Crystal began to ring. She watched the train attendant accidentally tap it with her middle finger before walking away, but who was calling?

"Are you feeling any better, Lucy? By the way, are you excited for today?" Kira asked in a calm tone while her face appeared in the crystal, before grinning happily with a mint green chocolate leaf halfway in her mouth.

Lucy replied kindly while changing her frown into a soft smile, before curiously asking about today, "Well, my injuries are healing and I'm unfortunately very low on magical power. Wait, what's happening today?"

Kira informed Lucy that there was a celebration going on in the town of Kazehana, which was north of Sabertooth's town, and people from that small town came to the place where Sabertooth was located to show their thanks for having residents who took care of their flowers. The townspeople of Kazehana were simply continuing an old tradition of giving out sweets to people in neighboring towns, doing this only for two straight days, and some of the women from Kazehana were also going to celebrate the fact that another tradition was going to transpire as well.

Lucy looked at one of the leaf-shaped chocolates that was on the table, liking how it was in a mint green color, and she picked it up with her right hand. Lucy didn't waste any time with eating it, as she felt somewhat hungry, and that chocolate turned out to be incredibly sweet. It mixed well with the minty flavor, and chewing on the chocolate surprisingly caused wind to come out of it. The wind went straight down Lucy's throat in a gentle manner, before she swallowed the chocolate, and it seemed like someone put Wind Magic in the dessert.

That caused Lucy to happily smile, as the chocolate was incredibly delicious, and she felt like taking another leaf-shaped chocolate off of the table. Lucy bit into half of it, before the wind once again entered her body, and Lucy let out a small burp. She took notice of how her wounds had steam emerge from them while they began to heal, which was quite strange, but Lucy looked quite curious about how these chocolates ended up on the train. She thought that the train attendants were giving them out for free, but that was not the case.

Kira was still communicating with Lucy while watching her look ahead to the front of the train, and the brown-eyed girl watched some people stand up while they held brown wooden baskets in their hands. Those baskets contained the chocolates, and the people carrying them simply handed out chocolates to the other passengers. They wanted the train attendants to help with the celebration, giving them chocolates to hand out, and the person who made the desserts actually filled them with a spell of Wind Magic to help exhausted passengers regain their strength.

"Kira, listen. I'm actually heading to Sabertooth right now, and I'm pretty excited! Although, I don't have any magic to show the guild members." Lucy explained to the red-haired merchant with a smile on her face, before giggling in an embarrassed manner.

The hazel-eyed girl responded in a kind manner while still being snarky, "Wow, Lucy. You're eager enough to join Sabertooth without letting everyone else see your magic? Even a weak spark of lightning would suffice, if you weren't too shocked to the core in that last fight. Maybe you need a jolt of encouragement."

Lucy replied while looking comically irked by Kira's puns, "I'm pretty sure that I can figure something out, Kira. After all, I'm smart."

As Lucy proceeded to turn off the Lacrima Communications Crystal and end the chat, the train's engineer announced to the passengers that they'd arrive at the next train station in twenty minutes. Lucy was quite happy to hear that, especially because of the fact that she'd get to see Sting soon, and she would hope to at least figure out something to show her new friends. After all, they would probably be interested in the types of magic that she could wield. Lucy decided to grab the white cup of coffee by its handle, before bringing it up to her mouth for the sake of taking some sips, but let's just say that this would be a sweet day for her.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in the town...**

The guild of Sabertooth was located in the town of Shioru, which was a nice town that even had a beautiful fountain of flowing water in its center, and Sting was currently checking out the request board while Rogue stood next to him. The light dragon slayer looked at the golden request board that was near the guild's entrance while trying to pick out a job, wanting to see if the high amounts of money would be paired with some decent tasks that could be done, but he frowned while nothing really seemed to catch his interest.

Handling a job just wouldn't seem very fun for Sting if Lucy wasn't around to provide some awesome spells that could make a fight become really cool, and Sting liked to work with Lucy. She gave him the drive the truly fight hard in battles, as he would never want her to see him flee from a fight or surrender to anyone, and Sting always gave Lucy happiness or comfort to make her days be better. Without her here to handle a job, though, Sting felt like it wouldn't really much fun to take down criminals. He and Rogue would just be earning money, and that wasn't truly exciting.

Sting noticed that taking jobs with Lucy allowed him to experience thrilling battles, as well as seeing how she could handle each situation that came her way, and the blue-eyed male smiled nicely at the thought of seeing Lucy get stronger as a mage. That job on Emblaze Island wouldn't have been the same without Lucy, as there probably would've been no smart plans that interestingly set the sea on fire, and Sting thought that it was amazing to see Lucy come up with some clever ideas. She was pretty smart, and Sting liked that about her.

He also liked the fact that Lucy was so beautiful as well, being one of the prettiest girls that he had ever met, and Sting hadn't forgotten about when Lucy told him that she wanted to join Sabertooth. She could gladly become a member of the guild, giving more strength to Sabertooth, and it would probably be better than having Kira as the guild's most recent member. In fact, it would be pretty good to stop hearing Minerva yell about how Kira's snarky personality got on her nerves. Based on how scary Minerva could be, Sting thought that Kira was only still alive because he didn't want Minerva to ferociously kill her.

"Sting, do you want me to tell you something nice or do you want to know that I ate your pancakes?" Kira asked him with a nice smile on her face, before giggling at that last part?

The light dragon slayer responded while turning around and looking slightly annoyed, before turning to a table to see that his breakfast was gone, "Kira, you ate my pancakes? Whatever nice thing you want to say, it doesn't change the fact that you owe me breakfast."

Kira surprised Sting by kindly informing him that he would get to see a new member join the Sabertooth guild today, even saying that he could probably take her to the festival in Kazehana Town, and the red-haired merchant smiled from seeing her friend start to blush a light shade of pink. That certainly motivated Sting for a job, as he would want to pick a task that would be good for him and Lucy to handle, and he also hoped that she was recovering nicely. He wouldn't want her to exhaust herself, as that would be bad, and Sting would certainly pick a flyer that came with a mission that wasn't too difficult.

Rogue moved some flyers around while trying to make sure that Sting would also pick a job that was close to Shioru Town, since it would most likely be troublesome for a recovering ally to travel quite far, and the shadow dragon slayer soon found something that caught his eye. There was a little job in the nearby town of Kazehana that simply required mages to go out to the grassy plains, and then they'd have to look for sweet herbs that would be used for medicinal purposes. The flyer's section for the reward only had a question mark, making this job be odd, but Rogue decided to choose it.

As he unpinned the dark green flyer from the request board, Sting simply gave Rogue a rather baffled look. Out of all the jobs that were available in Fiore, he chose a job that involved getting plants? That didn't really seem exciting, especially because of how Sting remembered seeing rows of the same plant in the grassy plains, and the client was probably just too lazy to get the herbs themselves. Sting grinned a bit as he felt like Lucy would agree with him, since picking herbs was something that could be done pretty fast, and that job would probably just take five or ten minutes for them to complete it.

Sting didn't exactly like little jobs that weren't worth the effort, especially when the client had the nerve to not even state what the reward was going to be, but Rogue had calmness in his red eyes as he began to remember how the town's elder ordered him and Sting to not go into the woods. She wasn't preventing them from going there because of a monster, but that elderly woman was actually quite wise enough to inform the boys about how only the people who fulfilled certain requirements could go there. Those woods were actually straight ahead of the plains, and only certain people from Kazehana Town were allowed to bypass the elder's rule.

"What if Lucy helps us explore the woods, Sting? Haven't you thought about what's past the grassy field?" Rogue asked his best friend in a calm manner as he closed his eyes, before folding his arms.

Sting replied nicely as he grinned in an amused manner, "Rogue, you're talking to Fiore's best dragon slayer. I can tell you that the woods contain nothing important, and there's probably just some trees with good fruit on them. Some towns hate it when you take their homegrown fruits."

Sting added calmly while maintaining his grin, "Lucy and I can help you on this job, but we'll see how it's so straightforward. Kira has nothing to do with this task, so expect us to get it done quick."

The fact that Lucy would show up today had caused Sting's heart to beat in a joyous manner, making him blush a bit as he thought about looking good for her while collecting herbs, and the light dragon slayer even thought about giving Lucy a kiss on the cheek. If the actual reward turned out to be a mere two-thousand jewels, then a nice kiss from Sting would certainly be better for Lucy. He was pretty good at trying to plan out situations, thinking about all the things that could possibly happen, but was Sting prepared to deal with anything else that would be involved with Kazehana Town?

* * *

 **30 minutes later...**

After getting off of the train at Shioru Town's train station, Lucy was smiling with delight while she walked down a wide street that had many shops. There was the bakery that Sting and Lector would go to on a daily basis while Rogue would accompany them sometimes, along with a nice gift shop for people to buy presents that they'd give to others who they cared about, and there was even a department store that sold lots of nice clothes. Lucy slightly felt the urge to shop, but seeing a picture of a Rainbow Crystal on the shop's front door reminded her that those clothes could be very expensive.

Lucy started to look a bit more delighted about the fact that she had three Rainbow Crystals, which meant that she could purchase more expensive products from fashion stores, but she couldn't exactly buy the best dresses with just three crystals. Lucy decided to not get sidetracked, though, and she also looked in a nearby glass window to hear a female employee sadly tell a mage that cute hats in the small size could only be bought by people who had four crystals. That was certainly a bummer for Lucy, but what could be done?

She decided to just go straight ahead to the Sabertooth guild, seeing it in the distance while the building was at the back of the town, and Lucy could see people walking out of it while they went down three other streets. This town was cool enough to have the houses on the eastern side of the town while the shops were on the town's western side, and the guild was sitting with its back against a rocky wall. Lucy felt ready to see Sting, wanting to reunite with him after two days of being confined to her bed, and she opened up the orange spell book while running.

Her right hand flipped through a few pages, before stopping at a page that showed a picture of the Earth Crystal, and Lucy pulled out the orange item from the left pocket of her purple jeans. She remembered that this would be similar to what was done in the desert, but Lucy got some distance from the narrow streets. The blonde-haired mage was at least ninety feet away from the guild, putting the book down on her left side for a moment, and she made the stance of clenching her fists. She slammed them together to follow the book's instructions, as her left foot was moved forward in the form of a stomp, and Lucy was holding the pose that represented strength.

 _"All right. I should just aim straight up, and hope for total silence."_ Lucy thought to herself while narrowing her brown eyes, aiming her right hand at the blue sky that was overhead.

Sting happily exclaimed while he walked out of a restaurant with Lector, glad to see a familiar girl up ahead, "Hey, Lucy! You're finally here! We've been waiting for you to show up, and-"

He was cut off by the sounds of the ground shaking in front of the Sabertooth guild, the earth rumbling beneath his feet, and Sting watched Lector quickly fly on to his head. The two males watched Lucy call upon the Sand Claw spell, only to have the Earth Crystal's E-Power change that into a much stronger move, and some chunks of earth began to rise up from the ground! The area around Lucy began to have several cracks while a few more big pieces of the ground rose up to be in the air, but she was not going to be afraid of this spell's effect.

She watched the chunks of the ground be surrounded by an orange aura, before they aggressively slammed into each other to create seven orange explosions of energy in midair, and Lucy was surprised to see this spell have the effect of sending its orange aura into the ground for the sake of rebuilding it. That spell could not only be powerful, but remaking the ground to use more spells of Earth Magic was a nice touch. Lucy was blown back by the gale that came from the harsh collisions, however, and she ended up landing on her bottom.

Rogue and Kira came out of the Sabertooth guild while they were pretty amazed to hear some fierce explosions at this time of the morning, sensing the extremely high level of power, but Kira had a calm smile on her face from seeing the orange aura that was surrounding Lucy's hands. Some other mages emerged from the guild to see what was going on, sharing the shocked facial expressions of Rufus Lohr and Orga Nanagear, but Sting motioned for his guild members to not see Lucy as an enemy. She was probably just showing off her strength, and it was pretty unexpected.

Lucy proceeded to stand up while the sight of everyone observing the ground repairing itself caused her to get embarrassed, not minding that the Electric Crystal fell out of her pocket, but taking a few steps back had caused Lucy to bump into someone who had been walking towards her. She turned around to see Sting giving her a thumbs-up while grinning, clearly indicating that he liked that spell, and Lucy blushed strawberry pink while giggling at the sight of Sting trying to make a cool pose to follow hers. Getting money from Kira to buy pancakes was nice, but seeing Lucy was even better.

"Lucy, that was so awesome! You just never cease to amaze me." Sting told her in a calm tone of voice while looking into her beautiful brown eyes.

Lucy replied as she blushed more, really liking how Sting's eyes twinkled at her, "Thanks, Sting. By the way, you could be good enough at posing to be Fiore's best model."

Lector told Sting in a shocked manner, "Sting-kun, look! Lucy-san's right hand is blank, and it doesn't look like she got Fairy Tail's guild mark stamped anywhere else."

The light dragon slayer took a glance at Lucy's right hand to see that her guild mark was indeed effaced, signifying that she truly came all the way here to join Sabertooth, and that reminded Sting about two things. Lucy would probably side with him about the fact that picking herbs was a cruddy job, and they'd also get to enjoy some festivities in Kazehana Town. She might like going to that town, even though some of Sting's friends stated that it would be windy sometimes, and the blue-eyed male also wanted to go there for the sake of getting more chocolates.

As Lucy turned away from Sting to pick up the book, she was surprised to see the Electric Crystal let out a yellow glow. Yellow beams of light went down into the book, as the crystal was adding its magic to the spell book, and Lucy's book started to become yellow while it shined along with the Electric Crystal. She quickly picked up the crystal, watching the book open itself up to the third section with lines of text that were in a yellow color, and Lucy was pretty amazed to see the book's color change once again. The Rainbow Crystals were certainly not ordinary items, and that made Lucy wonder about what kinds of electric spells she'd find in the book.

* * *

 **Elsewhere, at a cafe...**

Lucy and Sting may have been having a nice morning, but a certain wizard in Kazehana Town's local cafe wasn't really having a good day. In fact, he sat down at one of the round tables in the cafe while a girl with jungle-green hair was glaring at him in a scolding manner. The wizard who had dark green hair folded his arms while looking back at her, chuckling while he wasn't going to take the conversation seriously, and that only caused the girl to hit him on the head with her left fist. She narrowed her orange eyes at him while looking very displeased, hating what he did, and the guy didn't care about the plates of cheeseburgers that he had stolen.

He also didn't seem to care about the fact that today would be his first day upholding an important tradition that the town's elder chose him to carry on, as this wizard with violet eyes was far too lazy to be stressed about something that he believed to be stupid, and the girl sitting across from him with jungle green hair was actually his best friend who formed a team with him. She was glad that the cafe was making money, but this girl really hated how her friend would steal jobs from guilds and use Wind Magic to hastily steal food or making breezes blow up the skirts of girls for the sake of seeing their panties.

"Takuya, how long do you plan on doing this? If you don't want to use your intelligence to prove your strength in the tradition, then I'll tell the elder that she can get me to do it. You just take everything as a joke, and our cafe has been closed down for a month now." The girl asked her friend in a serious manner, before sternly talking to him."

The guy with dark green hair responded, before picking up a cheeseburger and eating it, "Hizuki, don't start that again. You'll make me throw up from boredom. I already told you that I have no interest in handling the stupid tradition, and I don't plan on joining a stupid guild."

That prompted Hizuki to get up from the green table while pushing in the green chair, before sternly stating that Takuya was just a punk who had been lucky enough to not get caught stealing flyers, and she thought that her friend shouldn't be wasting his time with illegally taking jobs. Takuya was quite skilled with Wind Magic, having eight spells that were tough for the past nine criminals to deal with, and he was much smarter than he had been in the previous year. Using the wind for thievery was somewhat clever, but Hizuki wanted Takuya to be serious and actually join a guild.

She wasn't exactly a fan of posers, mainly hating how Takuya would flirt with girls in some towns while stating that he was the most clever mage in each town's guild, and the orange-eyed girl really wanted her friend to actually fight opponents at full strength. Winning against them was quite nice, but he could never do it without being arrogant or saying that dumb opponents couldn't handle the strategies that he'd use. Hizuki would be there to assist him with her spells of Plant Magic, but she really wanted Takuya to take situations seriously. Instead, he would just combine two or three spells together to handle fights quickly.

He thought that doing seven jobs with high profits for the month would allow him to be lazy and use the wind to get whatever he wanted, but it was annoying to hear Hizuki lecture him about how he only cared about goofing off. Takuya was actually quite smart, totally capable of joining a guild, but he actually thought that was stupid. His refusal to join a guild was actually tied to how he recently lost a fight against a wizard who had to handle the same job as him in Margaret Town, and the user of Wind Magic saw that guy's win as a fluke. Hizuki certainly didn't see it that way, and joining a guild could prevent them from experiencing a loss after just ten minutes.

Hizuki wore a short-sleeved green leather jacket with a black tube top to match, and she also wore high-heeled boots that were jungle green. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail while she also wore a lime green miniskirt, and Hizuki was known for her punk-style look. Takuya had dark green hair that was short while he wore a light green sweater, along with some khaki pants, and his glasses had black frames. He also wore green sneakers to match the green skateboard that was near his chair, and Takuya would ride it while using his magic to hide in the wind. That allowed him to steal food or clothes from stores while making the town experience windy weather as a distraction, and he would make his mint green winds surround food or clothes to take them away.

"You know, I can just join a guild with someone who's less selfish and less lazy. You only helped the bakery with your magic because of how you'll get free chocolate later, Takuya. I guess some people like being losers who look up the skirts of girls." Hizuki told Takuya, as she shook her head in disapproval while really wanting him to have more respect to match his cleverness.

Takuya responded as he finished eating the first burger, before smiling as he remembered something, "Joining a guild would make you or me be dweebs like that girl who uses the book and keys. Hizuki, you're so uncool when you want me to be a guild member or actually be interested in the town's other events that don't involve chocolate."

Hizuki shot back in a sarcastic manner, "Yeah, she's such a loser for having friends as well as good battling skills. A total dweeb would end up in the newspaper, and she's dumber than a guy who was posing as a member of Lamia Scale to impress girls before Lyon Vastia kicked his butt."

She was about to continue on with the scolding, until Takuya informed her that he was the smarter half of their team, and Hizuki sighed while she wished that Takuya would take his new position seriously. It was very meaningful in the town of Kazehana to be the person who was chosen by the elder for something that involved strength and intelligence, and the elder of the town could see that Takuya was highly intelligent. She actually caught him in the act one day when her pancakes were stolen by Takuya's mint green winds, and putting a nullification spell of Wind Magic on them to cancel out his magic allowed her to be angrily confronted by him.

Hizuki felt like her best friend had great potential, being far too smart for the occupation of a clever thief or a pervert who enjoyed making wind blow, and she merely wanted him to actually show off how he was smart. Handling seven jobs in two days was great, as the Wind Magic let Takuya fly quite far at quick rates, but his arrogance and laziness tended to outshine his true intelligence too often. She felt like leaving the cafe with some money to legally purchase some mint chocolate cupcakes, but Hizuki turned to Takuya for the sake of seeing him smirk at her.

Hearing her scold him for many days now had gotten on his nerves, really challenging him with fighting the urge to scream at her, but Takuya realized something nice. If he would have to deal with the job of testing people to see if they were worthy enough to get something sacred from the Kazehana Woods, then Hizuki would just have to call him the captain of the event. He snickered at that, as a name for a leader was something that she would never willingly say with his name attached to that nice label, and Takuya was certainly going to have a fun time with making her act like she idolized him.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 13? Feel free to review this chapter, and tell me your thoughts on it. This story is so exciting, and I love how my OCs are interesting. :)**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Winds With Cleverness, Part 1**

* * *

Sting left the town of Shioru with Lector and Lucy for the purpose of going up the small dirt path that led them into the town of Kazehana, wanting to really enjoy the festivities that were taking place in this town, and he also wanted to get the job done quickly. The light dragon slayer was pretty happy to see that the residents of this town were happily making profits at their stores and concession stands, selling things like mint chocolate cupcakes that were topped with green icing, and Sting also seemed curious about people walking out of a small shop with green cups in their hands. They were actually drinking herbal tea that tasted somewhat bitter, and Sting probably wouldn't want to be consuming it.

Rogue also joined the group, since he was the person who chose the job involving the herbs, and Kira came along as well. They took notice of how the houses had brown walls on the outside while the sloping roofs were green, and the shades of green varied from house to house. Each house had one chimney that was made from red bricks, and the restaurants had two chimneys. The shops and restaurants had white walls on the outside while their brown roofs were pitched, having glass dormer windows that the houses also had, and that was somewhat interesting.

Sting walked down the cobblestone road with his friends while they all smiled happily, taking glances at the shops and houses that were on the main street, but the male with blue eyes was really happy to detect the scent of perfume in the air. The cherry fragrance reached his nostrils while Lucy also enjoyed the wonderful aroma of perfume, but both of the mages felt like they could do some shopping after they had completed this little job. Most of the desserts looked incredibly appetizing while some of the accessories being sold had looked pretty, and some items were only going to be on sale during Kazehana Town's festival.

As Lucy was beside Sting, she smiled happily while deciding to open up the yellow spell book. Unlocking a new type of magic felt amazing to the Celestial Spirit Wizard, especially because of how it could come with some spells that were quite amazing, and flipping through some of the pages revealed an interesting surprise to Lucy. She was quite happy to have gained some new spells to use, finding some of them to look really cool, but Lucy's cocoa brown eyes widened in shock from seeing something that was familiar. Well, the good thing about this move was that she wouldn't be on the receiving end of it.

"Sting, this spell looks really useful. I'll have to think about how to use it well, though." Lucy told him in a calm manner while her smile became softer, as she showed him the picture that was next to the spell.

The guild master of Sabertooth replied in a cocky way, pretty sure that her spell would be cool, "You can definitely hinder people with that awesome move, Lucy. You definitely have a great spell, but I bet that I'd have no trouble with getting the next Rainbow Crystal."

That prompted Lucy to playfully punch Sting's left arm with her right fist, giggling at his tendency to show off how he was strong, and the blonde-haired mage was beginning to have thoughts about what she'd need to handle for the opportunity to get the next crystal. Getting the first three crystals had been very interesting, as all three villains had motives that were just as different as their personalities, and Lucy really hoped that this festival wasn't going to be interrupted by a scary monster wanting to attack the town. That would certainly ruin the fun, after all.

Lucy and Sting kept walking down the street while they could see the grassy plains up ahead, feeling a gentle breeze blow past them, but the two mages also started to feel that this mission was a little too easy. Sting actually thought it was weird for the client to be in this town while the plains were close by, which would allow them to get the herbs themselves, and Lucy felt like this place was too peaceful. There were rumors about wind causing problems for people in this town, especially when things would get stolen, but it seemed like everyone was happy.

As Sting kept walking towards the grassy plains with Lucy, he turned around to see that Kira was talking to the owner of a concession stand that had been near the town's entrance. The red-haired merchant quietly walked away from the group while deciding to buy three large boxes of chocolate fudge cookies that contained mint filling, along with some Wind Magic that the elder of the town infused into them, and Sting felt comically annoyed by Kira's choice to shop before they'd do it as a group. Based on the fact that she was a merchant who liked to sell things, it was quite ironic to see her giving someone else a good profit.

The group got closer to the plains, Sting preparing to take a huge step forward on to the grass with Lucy, but the sight of some mint green clouds appearing in front of the protagonists had certainly startled them. The clouds swirled around in a small circle for a few moments, before they floated away in different directions to reveal a woman who wore a green kimono, and this woman emerged from that little spell of wind. She had fair skin and orange eyes while her hair was grey, liking how it reached down to her back, and this old woman who held a brown staff in her left hand was the town elder.

"Travelers going towards the Kazehana Plains? Are you here to handle my request, or can I assume that one of you is thinking that you're strong enough to try getting the prize in the event that's held there?" The elder asked in a curious manner, frowning as she gazed at the three mages and the red Exceed.

Rogue responded in a somewhat emotionless manner while walking past Sting to show the flyer to the woman, "We're here to handle the job about the herbs, so just tell us which ones you need."

The town's elder shifted her eyes to Lucy for a moment, watching her take out the Electric Crystal for a moment to just look at its nice yellow color, and the old woman began to faintly smile at the fact that someone was great enough to get the third Rainbow Crystal. Just like Makarov, this elderly woman knew about the ancient challenge that was starting to regain its popularity. There were mages who wanted to collect the crystals in a certain order, mainly referencing the colors of a rainbow, and the woman watched Lucy put it back into the left pocket of her purple jeans. If the yellow crystal was the third one, then what would be the next color of Lucy's fourth crystal?

The elder chose to not say anything about the event, as she didn't want Lucy running off into the plains so quickly, and the presence of a strong wizard would probably assist this elderly woman with the task of making a certain lazy boy become enthusiastic about using his Wind Magic for a good purpose. If Lucy was the type of girl who could battle well while using her spells in smart ways, then that high level of skill would surely bring out the high intelligence of an arrogant young man. The elder really wanted that boy to stop using Wind Magic to make the skirts of girls blow in the wind, and he needed to have some respect for wizards who were in guilds.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in the woods...**

Takuya currently sat down against the large tree that was in the center of the woods while he proceeded to open a large rectangular box that was pink, and the male with dark green hair was pretty happy to see the chocolate cookies that he managed to steal from a concession stand. He had used his Wind Magic to take one of the boxes while the stand's owner was chatting with a certain red-haired merchant, and Takuya hid in the wind while leaving behind a gentle breeze for the townspeople. He went off to the woods where Hizuki waited for him, but she definitely wasn't pleased with his thievery.

Hizuki sighed in an annoyed manner while she stood against a tree, folding her arms as she wondered if a challenger would even enter the dark woods today, and she truly felt like it would be embarrassing for someone to arrive here for the sight of Takuya eating three cookies at once. Even though he was quite a smart guy, Takuya was a noisy eater. Of course, the upside of being part of the tradition was that it only lasted for two straight days. After that, Hizuki and Takuya could go back to what they normally did. She may not have liked Takuya's arrogance and refusal to get serious, but at least he could bring funds to the cafe.

"I really think that we'll end up looking like chumps. You're just munching on cookies while someone could be on their way here right now, Takuya." Hizuki told him with a stern look on her face, preparing to take the box from him as her orange eyes were narrowed.

The user of Wind Magic responded while adjusting his glasses, frowning a bit, "Hey, address me as Captain Takuya. I'm aware that someone could enter the woods, genius, and I'll blow them away. Instead of berating me, try to find out where they are."

That made Hizuki sigh while she turned around, before gently touching the tree with her left palm, and the girl with jungle green hair closed her eyes. A dark green aura surrounded her body while she focused her Plant Magic on the tree, and infusing her magical power into the tree allowed Hizuki to gain vision through any insect that was on the tree. This was a useful spell for spying, as it came in handy for seeing what could be up ahead in caves or forests, and Hizuki was soon able to see through the eyes of a green butterfly.

She made the butterfly leave the tree by moving her right hand upward, causing it to fly in that direction, and Hizuki soon pointed to the right with her right hand. Hizuki's human eyes may have been closed for this spell, but seeing the butterfly's flight path allowed to see where her little spy would be going. She led it out of the woods at a quick pace, moving her right hand to the left and right to dodge tree branches, and it would be pretty easy to get to the plains. The good news is that there weren't any vicious beasts in the woods, or this would be much more dangerous.

The butterfly flew past some sweet leaves while it kept flapping its wings, soon reaching the entrance of the woods, and the green insect was able to reach the grassy plains. Hizuki made it look up at the sky for a moment, glad that it was still blue while rain would not be an issue, but the cute insect soon let Hizuki see that the mages who walked into the plains were definitely going to be troublesome people. She gasped in shock while still having her actual eyes closed, not believing what she was seeing, but Hizuki's winged ally was showing her the truth.

Hizuki made the butterfly quickly get closer to the group for identification purposes, seeing a certain blonde-haired girl who was wielding a spell book, and making the green butterfly get up close to the girl's face for the chance to see those cocoa brown eyes had caused Hizuki to groan in frustration. She opened her orange eyes as she took her hand off of the tree, ending her spying spell, and Hizuki couldn't wait to inform her lazy buddy about this news. In fact, the wielder of Plant Magic hoped that it would make Takuya realize that he couldn't mess around with her.

"Well, Takuya, there's three wizards and an Exceed in the grassy plains right now. Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney are two of them, and they're the famous twin dragons of Sabertooth. The girl with them is Lucy Heartfilia, and that last newspaper talked about how she was from Fairy Tail. You can't mess around with these mages, dude." Hizuki explained to him while looking very serious, knowing that their first challengers weren't novice-level wizards.

Takuya replied as he began to smile in an interested manner, chuckling at the situation, "Well, then I just get to fight some famous dweebs. Hizuki, I'm one of the smartest mages around. You and I totally bring the wind and pain to outlaws on jobs, but you forget what I always say. If we can beat outlaws, we can beat losers from legal guilds."

Hizuki wasted no time with reminding Takuya that Fairy Tail and Sabertooth were two of the strongest guilds in Fiore, meaning that those people could fight hard with all of their strength, and it would be wise to use Wind Magic at its full potential. Hizuki was obviously going to use her Plant Magic, but this was not going to be a typical two-on-one fight. After all, Takuya was the host of the event. He would have to be the main mage for the battle, determining if the challenger was worth enough to get the prize, but there were privileges of being a host.

As a host, Takuya could decide where a match would take place. He could choose to have fights in the woods where lots of plants and trees were around, or he could fight in the grassy plains where the wind could blow more freely. Takuya also had the right to set the conditions for this event, such as how there could be a limit on the number of spells used by the main mages, and both sides could have one ally in the battle. This tradition in Kazehana Town prevented allies from fighting for most of the battle, however, but they could use spells for defensive or offensive purposes at certain points.

Takuya stood up while a smile was on his face, pretty glad that he would finally get to show Hizuki that being in a guild could only cause them to be dweebs with weak skills, and he began to smirk at the thought of making his friend be like a cheerleader when she wouldn't be assisting him. That would probably earn him a fierce punch to the head, though, but Takuya did love how Hizuki would have to address him as Captain Takuya. He slowly began to walk out of the woods for dramatic effect while she proceeded to calmly follow him, and Takuya happily grinned at how he could make an entire speech that Hizuki would need to recite.

The duo slowly walked towards the entrance that would lead to the plains, ready to see if Lucy was truly intending to challenge them in the festival's event, and Takuya arrogantly thought about posing like a cool dude to make the travelers feel that they'd be dealing with a master of Wind Magic. He saw himself as the great rider of wind, capable of flying with a breeze to increase the power of his aerial moves, but Takuya merely saw Hizuki as the girl who worked at the town's flower shop while she was dressed in punk-style clothing. Really, weren't they an interesting pair?

* * *

 **15 minutes later...**

Lucy and Sting had been squatting down in the grassy plains while they tried to find herbs, and the task was actually more difficult than it appeared to be. Even though Sting found rows of the sweet cicely herbs, the town's elder comically hit him on the left shoulder with her staff for also putting purple leaves into the wooden basket that she retrieved from her house. Those purple leaves were not exactly useful for tea, as they were extremely poisonous, and the elder only wanted them to be used by mages who used Plant Magic.

Getting the best herbs was tough for Lucy, as she noticed that some of the sweet cicely herbs were growing faster than others, and she was seeing more smaller ones in the grass while the larger ones kept getting weeded out of the plains. The sweet cicely was a type of herb that had lacy leaflets with bright green undersides, also possessing flowerheads that were umbrella-shaped, and the flowers themselves were white while they had also been tiny. Lucy thought that it was a very simple job to just pick up these herbs, but these grassy plains were filled with various types of plants.

As Lucy was picking up some medium-sized sweet cicely herbs, she soon had to cover her nose because of how there were clumps of purple leaves around her. Some of the brown ones around them had smelled even worse, and their stems appeared to be dark green. Those plants weren't exactly healthy to eat, especially since the brown leaves were useful for making explosive concoctions, and Lucy definitely made sure to pick up the correct plants. She held a large clump of them in her right hand while proceeding to stand up, heading towards the basket, but then the blonde-haired mage noticed something that was quite interesting.

Lucy felt a large breeze blow past her while it was quite windy, and she turned around to hear the elder supposedly get startled by the sight of the wind lifting many sweet cicely herbs out of several rows in the plains. The wind soon picked up more of them, even making the ones in Lucy's hand get taken away, and all of the herbs were brought together in midair. They were soon surrounded by mint green clouds of Wind Magic that floated around them, before vanishing, but then the large amount of herbs appeared on the basket that was near Sting. They made it slightly creak, since the herbs were now arranged in three tall stacks, and that could only be done with very powerful magic.

"Did that wind just help us finish the job?" Lucy asked aloud, pretty puzzled by it while not even hearing anyone use any spells.

Sting replied while walking over to Lucy, his charming blue eyes looking at the stacked herbs on the basket, "That wasn't ordinary wind, and whoever used it precisely aimed their power at the lower parts of the herbs while just making that breeze for the purpose of showing off. Well, at least that helped us blow through this job."

Lucy looked over at the herbs to see that they were all forced off from the lower parts of the stems, almost like the mysterious wielder of Wind Magic saw these herbs many times in their life, but she couldn't complain. This job was now finished, which meant that she and Sting could go shopping together, and Lucy proceeded to hug the light dragon slayer. She blushed while looking into Sting's eyes, so very glad that he brought her to this nice town, and purchasing items in the festival could be really enjoyable. In fact, Lucy felt like Sting would give her great advice for choosing the best dresses to buy in this town.

Sting felt pretty glad to be getting a hug from Lucy, really loving how she smelled like strawberries mixed in with the sweet scent of vanilla, and taking this job with her had certainly kept him from getting bored. Sting smiled while looking into her beautiful brown eyes, blushing light pink while his gaze soon shifted down to her nice lips, and the confident male could feel his heart softly beat with a sense of warmth. Kissing Lucy was something that would truly make their friendship develop into a relationship, but would she be comfortable with receiving a kiss from him?

It wasn't like they were moving fast, since they had been friends for quite a while now, and kissing Lucy would be a great way for Sting to show her how he was so very glad that she joined Sabertooth. Lucy may not have been stamped with the guild mark yet, but Sting would certainly make sure that she received the guild insignia later. His bond with her was really good, as they handled missions together while backing each other up, and Sting gently wrapped his arms around her body. He showed off the pearly white teeth of his confident smile, and that caused Lucy to blush.

Her heart was also beating while being close to Sting, happy to be in the beautiful plains with him, and Lucy actually did feel like kissing him. Her lips quivered a bit while she thought about what to tell him, thinking that it would be wonderful to ask him if he wanted her to purchase some beautiful flowers for the guild, and Lucy also wanted to ask Sting if he would be her boyfriend. This was a good opportunity for Lucy to close her eyes, before slightly inching her lips up towards his, and Sting was about to kiss her as well. Before they could feel romance, however, both of the mages soon felt a gust of wind push them backwards.

"Oh, crud. Is this going to be some evil mage who wants to stir up trouble?" Sting asked in a somewhat annoyed manner, ignoring the nearby sight of the elderly woman disappearing into the wind with the basket of herbs.

Lucy replied while her left arm covered her eyes, before being pushed backward to where she landed next to her yellow spell book, "Whoever it is, they're probably here to ruin the festival."

Lector shouted in a worried manner while not being able to push against the strong winds, "Sting-kun, I'm getting blown away! The wind might make me crash into something!"

Rogue managed to grab Lector and keep him from being blown away by the wind, but he harshly narrowed his red eyes at the situation while running off to find Kira. If the protagonists were really going to be confronted by someone who was intending to crash the festival, then they'd all need to be ready. Judging by how they managed to easily pick out the sweet cicely herbs and use that wind with such great control, Rogue thought that Kira's fire would be able to do something. Strong winds could blow out fire, but flames that were stronger than the winds would get boosted in power.

He turned around for a moment to see a mint green cyclone appear in front of Lucy and Sting while the town elder was strangely missing, but Rogue wouldn't be foolish to just challenge whoever would appear. He soon turned his head back to the town while running with Lector, not seeing the cyclone fade away to reveal that no one was in it, and Rogue would probably be lucky to not have to deal with the user of Wind Magic trying to be dramatic. The winds began to die down while they only left behind a soft breeze that entered the town, but were Lucy and Sting ok?

* * *

The two mages got up from the grass to see that the area was no longer windy, pretty glad that they hadn't been injured in any way by that strong gust, and Sting dusted himself off while Lucy did the same thing. They both heard the sounds of footsteps coming towards them, turning to the left side for the chance to see Takuya and Hizuki walk through the grassy plains while they came from the path that led to the woods, and Lucy simply narrowed her eyes at the two people who were obviously involved with the windy weather. Her right hand tightly clenched the book, and she was prepared to use a spell.

Sting glared at Takuya and Hizuki for being total jerks who messed up a romantic moment, as he was starting to be prepared for a nice kiss with Lucy, and he'd be even more upset with them if they were going to ruin Kazehana Town's event for everyone. He really couldn't stand people who liked to ruin everyone else's chances at having fun because of how they were personally having a terrible time, and he'd definitely knock out the male of the duo with his Holy Nova attack. However, it would be good to at least see why they needed to make such a big entrance.

Lucy asked the two people with green hair in a somewhat irked tone, ready to beat them while they began to stand across from her and Sting, "Who are you, and what's with all the wind? Are we supposed to be scared of you?"

Takuya replied while looking psyched up, raising his arms up high while he was happy to introduce himself, "I guess it's time to represent in this event, Blondie! I'm the man with aerial power, and I'm also the master of wind during every day's hour! The name's Takuya Kūchū, and don't expect any zephyrs in this part of the festival!"

Hizuki added with a calm facial expression while speaking in a somewhat bored tone, "My name is Hizuki Hanaya, and we're not here to ruin the festival. We're accepting your challenge, since you're here in the plains. That's one of our town's rules during this festival."

Lucy was confused about that last part, as the elder didn't exactly mention that being in the plains would indicate that they were here to challenge anyone, but Takuya refused to answer any questions about that. He simply informed her that he was in charge of this event, and winning against him would allow Lucy to earn an awesome prize. In fact, it was a pretty nice prize that Takuya used in the past to get his battling skills up to a good level. He smirked at Lucy Heartfilia while thinking that this would surely be an easy battle, since she didn't look tough, and Takuya was ready to fight.

The blonde-haired mage opened up her yellow spell book while feeling totally ready to beat this guy, seeing a spell known as Speared Lightning, and this first spell of Lightning Magic caused Lucy to shoot out a yellow beam of electricity from her mouth. It had a spearhead while spinning at high speeds, prepared to pierce through whatever it touched, and this spell would also be explosive. Hizuki thought that Takuya would just be running his mouth during this fight, but she and Lucy were about to see that he wasn't going to fool around.

Takuya gathered Wind Magic in his hands, concentrating it to form two green orbs, and he slammed his hands together before placing them on the ground. This caused an extremely large tornado of mint green winds to form in front of him, spinning at rapid speeds in the clockwise direction, and Takuya made his hands slide in opposite directions to surprisingly split his attack in half. The original tornado was now half of the initial size, only at fifty percent of its true strength, and it was quickly struck by Lucy's beam! The two spinning attacks pushed against each other for a moment, before creating a large explosion that resulted in a heavy smokescreen, and they had been evenly matched.

Lucy was surprised to see the smoke be blown away quickly, however, and it got sent in different directions while she caught sight of the other tornado circling around Takuya. It was starting to grow in size while going around him, its speed increasing with every passing second, and the tornado was moving incredibly quickly while Takuya made rapid circles with his left hand. He aimed his left hand at Lucy while grinning arrogantly, watching the windy attack quickly go towards her, and Lucy couldn't react fast enough to evade it. Takuya purposely let that tornado circle around him several times to continuously increase its revolution speed, and launching it right after Lucy struck the first tornado was quite clever.

The wielder of Wind Magic told Sting in a rude tone, chuckling at how a large mint green explosion quickly occurred, "Wow, she probably didn't see that coming. Well, that's why I always let losers be first in line."

Lucy replied while starting to stand up, being bruised from that attack, "We're just getting started with this fight, so don't get too full of yourself."

She decided to use the second spell of Lightning Magic, which was known as Volt's Ball, and this move made Lucy fire a yellow ball of electricity from her left hand. The Celestial Spirit Wizard watched her opponent simply stretch out his left fist, allowing the attack to strike him like he thought it was weak, but Lucy read the spell's description to see that its effects would appear later. Volt's Ball only created a miniature explosion on Takuya's left fist, causing him to sigh while giving Lucy a pitiful look for supposedly wasting a spell, and he would simply counterattack.

Takuya activated a spell that was merely called Fun Wind, and he certainly enjoyed using it. This spell allowed him to run towards Lucy at high speeds, creating a strong breeze of wind, and he struck her in the chest with his left fist. Lucy was sent flying high into the air, and she watched Takuya spring up from the ground to be in front of her. He delivered several kicks to her chest, sending her flying backwards, and then he slapped her on the back of her left arm to push her forward. His physical attacks were obviously filled with wind, giving him the force to push Lucy away, but she wasn't going to let him win.

Sting decided to take advantage of Lucy's scuffle with Takuya by firing his White Dragon's Roar attack at Hizuki, watching the white light quickly go towards the girl who had jungle green hair, but he was surprised to see her activate a spell of Plant Magic. She exhaled a gust of air from her mouth, watching it be followed by cherry blossoms that were made from her Plant Magic, and these cherry blossoms had density to them. They shielded Hizuki from Sting's attack while both of the spells were evenly matched, and one of the chery blossoms landed on the grass to create a dark green explosion. Hizuki was merely showing off the offensive power of her defensive spell, and her timing with it had been clever.

Lucy fired the Volt's Ball spell at Takuya again, only to see him block it with his left fist once again, but she actually did that to distract him. Lucy wasted no time with grabbing Takuya by his sweater, before throwing him down to the ground, and Lucy grabbed his left foot while purposely falling down with her foe. After all, she didn't exactly have any chance at winning an aerial battle without the ability to fly. Takuya could actually jump on air and walk on it, due to his latest spell, but a forceful fall would be capable of ending that battle. He knew how to handle this, however, and Takuya exhaled lots of air down on to the ground for the sake of cushioning his fall with Lucy.

"Well, you two are certainly different from the outlaws that me and Hizuki have fought. Still, guild chumps can't possibly use these next two nice techniques. You're about to see something crazy." Takuya told Lucy and Sting with a cocky facial expression, after landing on the ground and going to Hizuki's side.

Lucy responded while standing up and turning pages in the book, "All right, then. Show us what you've got."

Takuya unleashed a new move known as Aerial Birds, which caused him to create five birds out of mint green winds, and they were actually small. The birds appeared on his head, before going straight towards Lucy at high speeds, and she was prepared for a spell like this. Lucy watched one of the birds fly past her, before another one used its sharp wing to make a slash mark appear on her left arm, and the other birds flew towards her from different directions. They slashed her body with lots of force, even having long beaks that harshly pecked at her legs, and Takuya even ordered one of the birds to peck Lucy's head.

That resulted in Lucy angrily grabbing the bird on her head, before throwing it back to Takuya, and Lucy activated her third spell of Lightning Magic. It was known as Electro Disc, and this spell caused a large compact disc to appear in Lucy's left hand. It was yellow like lightning, and Lucy threw it like a Frisbee. The disc headed straight for the bird, slicing right through it while a yellow aura began to surround the disc, and Lucy's projectile soon went back to her. She grabbed two more of Takuya's birds, though, and sent them straight into the disc's path. Slicing through those birds caused its power to increase, before making a U-Turn to go towards Takuya, and the high speed of the disc allowed it to easily strike him.

A large explosion of lightning occurred while Takuya screamed in pain, prompting Sting to quickly punch Hizuki in the face with white light that engulfed his fists, and Lucy simply watched Sting strike the orange-eyed girl's body. Hizuki retaliated by placing her left hand on the ground, however, and she made green vines emerge from the grass! They raised themselves up into the air, before slamming themselves down on the light dragon slayer repeatedly, and Sting screamed while letting his fangs bite Hizuki's right hand to not let her think that she could just run from a situation involving close combat.

The remaining two birds that Takuya created flew towards the yellow smoke clouds, blowing them away with their wings to reveal that Takuya was bruised up by Lucy's attack, and the birds faded away when their master put his hands together to clap. He was planning on showing Lucy and Sting a pretty wicked spell, one that even made a gang of outlaws run from him in fear, and the overconfident male pushed up his glasses while snickering. This may have been a battle of good mages versus neutral mages, but the elder once had the nerve to tell Takuya that this spell could be useful evil purposes. In fact, he didn't care that it was forbidden.

"It's time to show you why I'm a master of wind, and the air is always on my side! Come forth, Zephyr Hurricane!" Takuya shouted while starting to smirk, before looking quite serious about the fourth spell that was an oxymoron.

Hizuki commented while kicking Sting in the chest to get his mouth off of her hand, looking pretty satisfied about this fight, "Wow, Takuya. You're finally getting serious, if you're gonna use that. If it gets too crazy, though, I won't laugh at you."

This spell caused the clouds in the sky to start swirling above Takuya while they became dark for a few moments, signifying that this spell was powerful, and they began to circle over the battlefield in a slow manner. Their slow pace and eerie demeanor was followed by many mint green tornadoes emerging from the center of the clouds, and these tornadoes were almost as big as Takuya's tornado when it was split in half. The eight tornadoes began to circle around him in a rapid manner, moving at extremely high speeds, and a mint green aura surrounded Takuya's body.

He exhaled an extremely large gust of air down on the tornadoes, doubling their size, and he commanded them all to strike Lucy. The guy with dark green hair simply watched Lucy get pulled towards his tornadoes, seeing one of them slam itself against her, and a mint green blast of energy occurred! Lucy screamed in pain from the attack while feeling like the winds would tear her apart, feeling the air to be like lead striking her whole body, and it wasn't fun for her to get hit by Takuya's other seven projectiles. This was one of the spells that he rarely used, since beating outlaws required the use of his first two or three spells, but this battle was fun for him.

Lucy continued to get struck by the tornadoes, feeling all of their explosions and air hit her directly, but she couldn't do anything right now. The winds were moving far too fast while they were also incredibly strong, and her brown eyes caught sight of Takuya surrounding himself with some air that he'd inhale to become much faster. Lucy was covered in bruises while she was also bleeding from the fierce attacks, feeling so much pain right now, and this situation seemed like it would end badly. Takuya and Hizuki probably wouldn't kill her, as this was still a festival's event, but how could Lucy win?

She fell to the ground while closing her eyes, feeling very exhausted, and Lucy's clothes were torn while she coughed up a bit of blood. Lucy thought about how speed wasn't her best quality, as she couldn't make the battle go at a faster pace, but then Lucy opened her eyes for a moment to see that her yellow spell book was glowing. What was going on? She turned the page in the book to see some words pulsating in their yellow color, almost like she needed to use this spell, and Lucy was definitely going to use it. Its name sounded pretty cool, and this move was actually one that a recent enemy didn't activate from her arsenal.

"I call upon thee, Thunderous Lightning!" Lucy shouted with determination in her voice, not wanting to lose while hoping that this spell would do something.

The clouds above Takuya began to merge into one large cloud that was quite dark while he proceeded to float down to the ground, thinking that Hizuki would see him easily win another match, but the host of this festivity looked quite surprised to see a yellow aura surround Lucy's body. It was quite amazing to see her start to stand up while steam emerged from her body, seeing every single wound begin to heal like when she ate the chocolate, and what happened next was going to be quite shocking. In fact, it would be something that even Takuya couldn't calculate into this fight's outcome.

Lucy looked up at the swirling clouds to see them slowly glow mint green, almost like Takuya was charging up their power to full ferocity for the next wave of tornadoes to obliterate her, and that prompted her to simply fire the Speared Lightning spell up at them. The electricity managed to go from Lucy's mouth up to the clouds, electrocuting them, and she ran towards Takuya with an aggressive look on her face. She pushed him out of the way while hoping that her lightning would give those clouds more of a power boost, and their quick charge was a good signal of that.

Sting watched Lucy soon get struck by a massive beam of lightning that came down from the clouds, seeing his blonde-haired companion simply be engulfed in the attack while she didn't appear to be taking damage, and that fierce lightning was sending all of its power down on her. This spell let Lucy absorb lightning from the thunderclouds in the sky, as well as healing her, and Lucy felt herself begin to move at extremely high speeds. She was starting to be just as fast as Takuya, maybe even faster, and Lucy could feel this spell sending an awesome amount of electrical power into her body.

She soon turned around to let Sting and Hizuki take notice of how there was a yellow tail shaped like a lightning bolt filling a hole that had been made in the back of Lucy's purple jeans, and the tail was soon surrounded by electricity. A ball of lightning began to appear on it, before spinning up and down on the tail to gain more electricity, and that sphere of lightning grew to the size of Lucy's palm. This was the fourth spell leading straight into the fifth spell, something that even made Takuya comically drop his jaw in amazement, and whatever was going to happen next would probably be a great way to continue this electrifying and windy battle of wits.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 14? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Neutral OCs are pretty interesting, aren't they? They aren't good or evil, and that seems cool. :)**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Winds With Cleverness, Part 2**

* * *

Everyone was quite surprised to see the effects of Lucy's fourth spell, very amazed that there was a spell of Lightning Magic involving an electrical tail, and Takuya had a feeling of shock in his violet eyes while he didn't think that Lucy could possibly make the winds of this battle blow in her favor. The male with dark green hair glanced over at Hizuki for a moment, giving her a serious look that told her about how this fight would become harsher, and Takuya simply looked back at Lucy. Her fourth spell may have led into the fifth spell, but what was it going to do?

Lucy sprang up into the air while the electricity surrounded her body, not wanting to waste any time with attacking Takuya, and this fifth spell was simply known as Electric Charge. The yellow ball of lightning kept spinning up and down on the tail, before the tail itself started to spin in a clockwise manner, and Lucy grabbed the attack. She fiercely threw it down at Takuya, who couldn't evade the quick attack in time, and a yellow explosion of lightning occurred! Lucy smiled confidently while hearing her opponent scream in pain, also hearing the electricity crackle for a few seconds, and that was a direct hit.

Takuya had trouble standing while being bruised up from that attack, as some blood dripped from his arms and legs, but he wasn't going to give up. The thieving guy unleashed a move known as Aerial Slam, and this spell prompted Takuya to fire a mint green ball of Wind Magic from his mouth. He shot it up into the air, watching the ball reach a high altitude, and then Takuya snapped his fingers to make the sphere change into five beams of wind! They quickly went towards Lucy while spiraling at high speeds, having enough damage to pierce through her body, but Takuya raised his left hand's index finger upward to make the beams ascend higher.

Lucy looked up to see the beams go to higher heights, before Takuya lowered his index finger as a way of commanding them to come down, and Lucy was smart enough to stretch her legs downward for her to start falling. Sting would probably end up catching her, which would be pretty nice, but seeing Takuya move his finger in different directions made Lucy gasp in shock. She was suddenly struck from four directions by the mint green beams, seeing them create mint green explosions around her in midair, and Lucy fell from the air quite quickly. Her cocoa brown eyes were closed while she could see he final beam heading down towards her, gaining power on its descent, and hearing Takuya laugh wasn't exactly comforting.

"Hey, blonde babe! Maybe you'll like seeing me go high into the air, since I'm above you in terms of strength! You and that guy are just chumps in a stupid guild, and I don't really see why you'd want to keep being losers! People who join guilds are pathetic!" Takuya told Lucy while seeing her fall to the ground, before his mint green beam created a powerful blast of Wind Magic.

Sting shouted in a concerned tone, hearing the attack presumably create a large crater in the grassy plains, "Oh, no! Lucy, I'm coming!"

The Celestial Spirit Wizard responded in a calm tone while slowly standing up, watching the mint green smoke surprisingly be in front of her, "Takuya, repeat what you said. Really, you're smart and yet you have so much to learn."

The smoke cleared up to reveal that Lucy was on the grass, panting as she was bruised from the blast's dense winds that slammed her backwards, and that made Takuya clench his teeth while looking annoyed. He and Hizuki felt like there was no way for Lucy to survive the Aerial Slash spell, as a direct hit from a wind attack that descended would be devastating, but Lucy actually used the Electric Charge spell at the last minute. She surprisingly ate the lightning attack, feeling it give her more power, and the electricity surrounding Lucy's body gave off waves of Lightning Magic that pushed the attack fifteen centimeters away from where she fell. That was a nice secondary effect of the spell, right?

Lucy glared at Takuya while feeling pretty offended by what he arrogantly said, and she would definitely make him see that wizards in Sabertooth were not losers at all. In fact, Lucy turned her head to see Sting softly smile at her. Fighting these two mages was definitely a tough task, especially when they were fighting separately, but they could totally benefit from fighting together as a duo. Lucy walked towards Sting while feeling some confidence build up inside of her, sensing that this confidence was relating to how she thought they'd truly be an intelligent team, and she certainly wanted to assist Sting with fighting Hizuki.

Their confident smiles prompted Hizuki and Takuya to look at each other for a moment, feeling like they'd have to also start working as a team, and Hizuki started things off with a move known as Leaf's Cutter. She fired several dark green leaves into the air, taking notice of how they were sharp-edged, and Takuya activated the spell called Fun Wind once again. He sprang up very high, before exhaling a powerful gust of wind, and the leaves headed towards the protagonists. That gust of wind gave them more power while a mint green aura began to surround them, and their own dark green aura soon appeared.

Sting countered some of those leaves with his White Dragon's Holy Ray attack, crouching slightly after he made a large amount of white light enter his hands, and Sting fired that light at the leaves in the form of numerous beams! They struck the leaves while creating dark green explosions, the attacks being evenly matched, and some of Sting's projectiles even managed to strike Hizuki! She screamed in pain from the white light that damaged her body, but she wasn't planning on losing. In fact, she narrowed her orange eyes while proceeding to tell Takuya something interesting.

"Well, Takuya, we may have to use those trump cards. Your fourth spell was a personal one, but using my personal trump card with your next spell is the surefire way for us to win this battle." Hizuki explained to her partner while frowning, as she didn't want this fight to go on forever.

Takuya replied with a smile of his enjoyment on his face, before looking comically irked, "That'll totally make those two dweebs run back to their guild, Hizuki! Our first combo is a real killer, and it makes outlaws scream. Also, you're supposed to call me Captain Takuya! When I talk, please be like a cheerleader."

Sting told Lucy in a somewhat confused tone, watching Hizuki start to cheer for Takuya in a manner that was clearly unenthusiastic, "I honestly think that these two are the weirdest enemies we've ever faced."

Lucy wanted to find a way for her Lightning Magic to really hit Takuya hard, thinking that she needed to hit him from several directions to catch him off guard, and that prompted her to surprisingly pull out one of her Celestial Spirit Keys. She opened the Gate of The Lion, which summoned Loke, and Lucy smiled confidently as her new ally appeared. Seeing the orange-haired man in a fancy black suit appear had caused Takuya to harshly state that challengers could only use one ally in battle, but would Loke even fight?

Loke turned around to smile at Lucy, only to suddenly be distracted by the strong perfume of Hizuki, and the way how she strongly smelled of mint green leaves was enough to make Loke walk over to her. His habit of flirting made Lucy, Sting, and Takuya look quite perplexed. In fact, Lucy started to wish that she didn't summon him. She simply watched him give Hizuki a flirty grin while taking his hands in hers, trying to get romantic, and the woman with jungle green hair simply frowned at him while not looking interesting. Clearly, a direct approach would not work on her.

Hizuki simply watched Loke push up his glasses for a moment, before he gathered yellow light into his hands, and the Celestial Spirit soon shot out that light at the sky. Since Lucy had gotten stronger, Loke gained new strength as well. He unleashed a spell known as Lion Luminous, which simply created a large ring of light in the sky, and Loke turned around to see if Hizuki liked that. Lucy looked a bit irked by this, hoping that Loke would help her do some damage, and she decided to just send him back to the Celestial Spirit World. The ring of light could be useful, though, right?

Lucy decided to activate her sixth spell of Lightning Magic, which was simply known as Sporadic Lightning, and it surprisingly caused Lucy to shoot out a thin beam of lightning from her mouth. She aimed it up through the ring, watching the attack create an electrical explosion that looked powerful, and several thin beams of yellow light began to rain down from the sky! Sting and Lucy found themselves having to dodge some of them while Hizuki and Takuya also had to deal with that issue, but the neutral mages would use this as a chance to strike.

"Let's see how you guys like my Floral Seed Bombs! Takuya, follow that lead!" Hizuki exclaimed in a harsh manner while placing her hands down on the ground, making several seeds grow from the Plant Magic she was sending into the grass.

Takuya added as he was looking confident, starting to smirk with arrogance, "The sixth spell, Wind Scythe, is about to make these chumps get torn to shreds!"

Lucy and Sting watched Hizuki's seeds grow to the size of her palms, before they proceeded to bounce up into the air, but that wasn't the harsh part of the combo. An iron fan soon appeared in Takuya's right hand, and he unfolded it to let his opponents see how it was mint green. Takuya gently swung the fan backwards, before swinging it forward, and it created a large vortex of mint green winds! Takuya's attack headed straight for Lucy and Sting while Hizuki's seeds were also quickly gong towards them, and it seemed like running away would be a good idea.

As Lucy was about to run away with Sting, however, she took notice of how Sporadic Lightning was still creating many electrical blasts on the field. Some of the lightning beams that went through Loke's ring finally managed to hit the ground, resulting in them creating explosions that were followed by yellow light with incredible brightness, and Hizuki screamed as she became blinded by the light! Her spell of Plant Magic was also affected by the light, bending downward to where it crashed into the grass, and many dark green blasts occurred! Lucy and Sting were sent flying backward, but the light dragon slayer felt like concluding part of this fight.

He shot out a large sphere of white light from his mouth, before using his White Dragon's Roar at full power to send the attack forward at high speeds, and Sting could faintly see through the golden light. His attack would strike Hizuki, who was currently having her face buried in her hands to avoid seeing that golden light, and Sting simply watched the spell called White Dragon's Revenge hit the orange-eyed girl directly! Hizuki was sent flying backwards, nearly hitting a tree, but Takuya used his Wind Magic to make the wind bring her closer to him.

Loke's light began to fade away from the battlefield while the Sporadic Lightning spell also ceased, and the four fighters panted heavily while feeling somewhat tired right now. These next spells were going to be their last ones, and Lucy went to the next page in her yellow spell book. Her right hand was gently placed under the text while she read the spell's description again, recognizing this spell to be one of the fierce attacks that she had to endure in a recent battle, and Lucy was ready to activate it. In fact, she was definitely showing off her high voltage in this windy battle.

"The seventh spell, I call upon thee! Electric Slicer!" Lucy shouted with determination in her voice, before looking down at her body to see that the yellow lightning still surrounded her.

Takuya shouted back as he looked pretty serious, watching Hizuki regain her sight, "We're gonna win this battle! Hizuki, get ready to see the rare sight of Wind's Turbulent Dance!"

Hizuki thought to herself while looking at Takuya, smiling as she proceeded to use her Plant Magic to create a dark green sphere in her hands, _"Takuya... wow. As this fight raged on, I could sense that your arrogance got overshadowed. You're trying to maintain it, I know, but you have to admit that these people are making you bring out the seriousness of your strength."_

The yellow buzz-saw blade of electricity appeared in Lucy's left hand, before a second blade also appeared from the yellow aura, and Lucy proceeded to throw them both like boomerangs. They would certainly be moving quickly, able to slice through dense objects, and this move actually had the added effect of causing paralysis to an enemy. Sting used his Holy Ray spell once again, and the beams of light would increase the power of Lucy's attacks. However, that was not the end of it. The electric blades were engulfed in a yellow aura that pulsated two times, almost like it was reacting to something, but what was going on?

Takuya's spell required him to thrust his left arm forward, which he did, and the male with dark green hair created four mint green tornadoes that spun in a clockwise direction at high speeds. Hizuki fired a dark green ball of Plant Magic at one of the tornadoes, before seeing it get flung at another tornado, and this process was repeated two more times. Takuya's tornadoes began to turn dark green, infused with Hizuki's power, and Takuya also made them rotate around him and Hizuki in a large circle. Their power was increased from circling around the duo, and Takuya ordered them to hastily go towards his foes.

This battle of wits ended with a battle of whose projectiles would strike first, as both sides used powerful attacks, and Lucy's buzz-saw blades struck Takuya first! The electricity also struck Hizuki, creating a massive blast of yellow lightning that was followed by a white blast of Sting's light, and Takuya's left arm crackled with electricity while it took immense damage. It took some time, but the spell called Volt's Ball managed to show its effect of charging up other moves that were used to strike in succession. In fact, it could've been useful if multiple attacks from Sporadic Lightning hit Takuya.

Even though Takuya and Hizuki went down to the ground, Lucy and Sting couldn't celebrate. The four tornadoes struck them quickly, unleashing their power in succession, and the two protagonists screamed in agony. The pain from this attack was immense, as it created a massive explosion of dark green energy, and that explosion was followed by mint green energy that detonated. Lucy and Sting were fiercely damaged by that attack, and its power was enough to exhaust Lucy to the point where the lightning around her body faded away. Her tail that was shaped like a lightning bolt faded away, too.

"All right! That is enough!" An elderly voice exclaimed in a stern manner, as some mint green clouds began to appear in the center of the plains.

That voice belonged to the elderly woman who needed herbs, and she began to spin around while simultaneously using her Wind Magic to blow all the smoke away from the plains. Some of it headed towards the town, but that smoke would eventually fade away. The elder of Kazehana Town watched Lucy struggle to stand up, only getting up a few seconds before Takuya did, and the elderly woman had actually been observing the entire battle while she sat on the high branch of a tree in the town of Kazehana. She decided that the four mages would need medical attention, though, and it would be crucial to heal a person who could also heal others.

The healing would not take place out in the plains, however, and the elder used her Wind Magic to carry the four mages into the woods. After all, that is where a certain reward would be waiting for the mages who did really well in this event of the festival. It would be a pleasure to see a certain blonde-haired girl get this prize, as she rightfully earned it, but there would also be something else that the elder needed to handle in the woods. In fact, she wanted to deliver this news to Takuya after seeing how he and Hizuki fought today.

* * *

 **40 minutes later, in the woods...**

After using Wind Magic to heal up Hizuki and restore her magical power, the town elder had simply watched the serious girl use her Plant Magic for the purpose of healing everyone else. Lucy was currently walking around in the small woods that were near Kazehana Town, taking notice of how there were many different bushes with various leaves or fruits on them, and some of the fruits were not meant to be eaten. They were useful for spells of Plant Magic that involved poisoning foes, just like the purple leaves that were on a bush near the large tree that was in the center of the woods, and that was quite interesting.

Lucy looked deep in thought while Sting walked beside her, and the two mages were both feeling uncertain about what would happen. There wasn't a clear winner in the fight, resulting in the Celestial Spirit Wizard thinking that she would have to beg for the prize, and Takuya was most likely not handing it over to people who he perceived to be chumps in a guild. In fact, he'd probably just laugh in Lucy's face while saying that she wouldn't be smart enough to deserve it. That seemed like the obvious outcome, and Lucy felt like leaving with her head held high. At least she used some new spells, and she could be proud of that.

"Well, that challenge ended in a draw. Let's just go back to Sabertooth, and-" Lucy told Sting in a calm tone while looking around at all the trees, ignoring their beauty for a moment.

The elderly woman sternly told Lucy while standing behind her, rudely hitting her on the head with the brown staff that she held in her left hand, "You must really be an impatient girl, if you wish to leave without even receiving the host's judgement."

Sting asked with curiosity in his charming blue eyes while he turned around, "What do you mean?"

The elder kindly informed Lucy and Sting that Kazehana Town had a rule in place for the scenario of a draw happening during this event, and that rule involved the job of Takuya deciding if the challenger was worthy enough to receive the prize. The elder had not forgotten the rules of the ancient challenge in the old days, remembering that a prize would always be given to the wizards who succeeded in their battles against the people guarding the Rainbow Crystals, and that rule would still stand for the challenges that would occur during the festival.

Lucy turned around to look at Takuya and Hizuki, slightly caring that their clothes were torn by the final blasts, and it seemed like the male with dark green hair would refuse to admit defeat. He frowned at her while looking serious, almost like he still saw her as a stupid chump, but then Takuya's frown turned into a soft smile. He began to let out a chuckle of satisfaction, pretty glad that he got to have a great battle today, and Hizuki also started to smile. Takuya punched the tree with his left fist to softly rattle it, making a green rhombus-shaped object fall into his left hand, and Hizuki held his left hand with her right hand.

The two mages walked towards Lucy and Sting while feeling pretty happy about the fight, and Hizuki's orange eyes shifted to Takuya's grin. It was like Lucy helped him start to change into a better person, as his intelligence was able to outshine his arrogance in that battle, and Takuya actually began to think back to the first fight that he had with Hizuki. They were evenly matched, making the battle so interesting, and Takuya had felt happy to put his smarts on full display for her. Those circumstances occurred in this battle against Lucy, as she was just as clever as him, and it was cool to see her think ahead with Volt's Ball.

The elder could see that Takuya grew in this fight, not using the petty tactics of a thief, and he truly showed that he was a genius. It had been a pretty wise idea to send Lucy and Sting out into the plains, as they fought with Takuya and Hizuki in a battle that was quite exciting, and she even heard some of the townspeople talking about the blasts. Hearing some men speak about Takuya like he was a genius had made the elder really want the young man to show off those skills, and he certainly did. At least he wouldn't be bitter about losing to Lucy.

"Well, Lucy Heartfilia, here you go. This is the Verdant Crystal, and it's one of the Rainbow Crystals. That great battle is proof that you earned this." Takuya told her in a calm tone while smiling confidently, before taking off his glasses to show off his purple eyes.

Hizuki added as she smiled at Lucy, before turning her attention to Sting, "Thanks for coming to Kazehana Town. You know, I think Takuya will be less lazy and have a better opinion of wizards who are in guilds. Also, just for the record, I was only holding back to see if he'd get serious. Thanks to you, he's gotten my respect."

Takuya and Hizuki held out their hands for Lucy to gently take the green crystal from them, and the blonde-haired girl was quite happy to receive it. She let out a happy cheer while looking pretty psyched up about the fact that the Verdant Crystal was a good way to represent her fourth victory in the ancient challenge, and Lucy was going to put the green item into the left pocket of her purple jeans that were torn quite badly from the fierce fight. The pockets were thankfully intact, but the legs of her jeans were ripped off. She hoped that four crystals would be enough to purchase some jeans, and the shopkeeper would probably show leniency in her situation.

Still, Sting was pretty happy to see Lucy cheer triumphantly while he could see that she became much stronger. Not fighting for three days hadn't made her get weaker, as a smart opponent could always encourage a wizard to fight with high levels of intellect, and smarts were always needed in battles. Lucy was a pretty clever girl, as she even threw Takuya's birds back at him while also shifting a powerful attack to where it would miss, and Sting loved seeing how Lucy could make strategies in tough situations. Her skills were amazing, and she'd probably go all the way to the end of the ancient challenge.

Lucy looked down at the Verdant Crystal that was in her left hand, really liking how some sunlight shined down on the woods for her to see her reflection in the crystal, but she really needed to thank Sting for helping her fight in this battle. There was no way that she would've won against Takuya and Hizuki by herself, and Sting's fight against Hizuki was pretty crucial. If he hadn't been distracting her for a good amount of time to wear her down, then Lucy would've had to deal with her spells of Plant Magic at full power.

Since the challenge was now over, Takuya felt like it would be good for him to walk out of the woods. He was going to get some mint chocolate cupcakes to eat, even if he'd have to use Wind Magic to steal them, but taking several steps towards the entrance to the woods had prompted the elder to clear her throat. Hizuki watched Takuya simply keep walking while he wouldn't care if the elderly woman scolded him for doing what he did greatly, and the elder cleared her throat much more loudly to make him stop walking. Takuya refused to turn around, though, and he actually thought that she wanted him to get ready for other challengers during the festival.

The elder told Takuya in a disapproving tone, before speaking kindly to him, "Takuya, you thieving boy! I've always thought of you as an arrogant fool while questioning why Hizuki chose to partner with you, but... you proved me wrong. My final job for you two is to join a guild, and that's an order."

Takuya slowly turned around while looking surprised, replying in a shocked manner, "You want me and Hizuki to join a guild? Why, though?"

The elder continued while explaining in a kind manner, "This was not just a challenge to see if Lucy could obtain the Verdant Crystal, but I was also testing you as well. Takuya, you and Hizuki are powerful mages. Show off your intelligence to a guild, and I won't take no for an answer. Your fight against Lucy and Sting has shown me that you two deserve to be guild wizards, instead of just punks who won't open the cafe."

That only prompted Takuya to look somewhat irked while he started walking again, thinking that he and Hizuki would be miserable in a guild, and he stopped when Hizuki ran after him. She grabbed his right arm while stating that Lucy and Sting were not just partners, as she could see that they had a good friendship, and Lucy smiled a bit from seeing Hizuki tell Takuya that they could find friends in a guild. Kazehana would always be their town, and it would certainly be nice for them to run the cafe with some friends at their side. After all, getting dessert and coffee recipes from some new friends would put an end to their days of thievery.

Speaking of a cafe, Lucy's stomach growled softly to let everyone know that she was pretty hungry. The task of getting new jeans would come first, though, and Lucy proceeded to run out of the woods while Sting ran after her. She looked back at Takuya for a moment while happily saying that he'd like being in a guild, as he'd probably end up going on incredible adventures with Hizuki, and the rowdy brawls that would possibly occur could be fun for them. Takuya simply joined Hizuki and the elder with waving goodbye, hoping that Lucy and Sting would enjoy the festival, and this was certainly an exciting day.

* * *

 **35 minutes later, in Kazehana Town...**

Sting had ran back into town with Lucy while he smiled a bit at how she now had four Rainbow Crystals, but the male with blond hair stayed near a bakery shop's window as he watched his lovely partner run into the town's clothing store. Sting heard Lucy and the person who was possibly the clothing store's owner talk about why her clothes were torn, since Lucy left the shop's door open, and they had talked for quite a while. Four crystals would allow Lucy to purchase some nice jeans, but what she went through to get the Verdant Crystal had made the store owner be quite concerned.

Lucy currently walked out of the store wearing purple jeans that were brand-new, given to her for free because of the embarrassing situation, and she also wore a strawberry pink T-shirt that was paid for by the store's owner. Her flat shoes had been taken away, mainly because the owner brought up how Samantha Kalos stated in a magazine that pink flat shoes weren't in style right now, and Lucy received a new pair of black flat shoes. This was quite good for her, as she liked to follow the modern trends of fashion, and Lucy would now be able to enjoy the town's festival with Sting.

Her brown eyes took notice of him being at the front of a concession stand's line that sold mint chocolate cupcakes, the same ones that Hizuki enjoyed eating, and Sting had a smile on his face while he pulled out 2,000 jewels from the left pocket of his blue vest. The light dragon slayer surprisingly paid for four large boxes of the cupcakes, wanting to give one whole box to Lucy, and Sting also got one box of cupcakes for Lector to eat. Lucy felt like walking over to him for the chance to kiss his cheek out of gratitude, but then the strong scent of freshly baked green apple pies entered her nostrils.

That prompted Lucy to take steps towards the nearby bakery, wanting to get some nice slices of that apple pie, but the summoner of Celestial Spirits was soon startled by Kira hastily coming out of the shop with a pale green bag that contained an apple pie. Kira held several bags in her hands to show Lucy that she had been on quite a shopping spree while all that fighting went on, and the quirky merchant was planning on going to the flower shop for the purpose of getting some green roses. They would actually sell for high prices in other towns, but Lucy was more startled to see a certain green Exceed on her friend's head.

"Hey, Lucy! Wow, you and Sting have been missing out on the whole festival. I gave Rogue lots of sweet desserts and a cup of mint coffee, but he just left after the town's elder gave him the reward of explosive leaves. If you break them up, they'll explode." Kira explained in a happy tone while feeling glad that she was purchasing many items.

Frosch replied joyfully, "Fro thinks so, too!"

Lucy asked Kira in a calm tone while ignoring Lector fly by her, focused on the subject of Frosch, "Isn't Frosch the Exceed that Sting told me about on our way back here? Why is he not with Rogue?"

Kira calmly informed Lucy that Frosch was carefree while walking out of the Sabertooth guild with the red wallet that contained Kira's loads of money, and the green cat thankfully left the town of Shioru to go up the dirt path that led here. He probably wanted to find Rogue or Lector, since the group was taking a long time to get back from Kazehana Town, and Kira actually ran into Frosch when she walked out of the coffee shop with a hot cup of mint coffee in her left hand. She nearly spat out the coffee from seeing Frosch here by himself, but Kira wouldn't mind letting him stay with her while they'd see what the festival had to offer.

Frosch and Kira waved goodbye to Lucy while they decided to head towards a perfume shop that was down the street, and that left Lucy waiting for Sting. She blushed a bit while seeing him walk in her direction with the boxes of cupcakes, as she really wanted to show gratitude to him on this sweet day, and that caused Lucy to widen her eyes in shock. She didn't have much money in her pockets right now, and Sting certainly wouldn't want to eat one of the town's delicacies that just contained vegetables. This was a festival, which was quite special, and Lucy would just have to make this festival have personal fireworks for Sting to enjoy.

As Sting clutched the boxes with his left arm, he ran towards Lucy while happily smiling. Lector was flying beside him while both of the males hoped that Lucy was enjoying the festival like they were, and Sting planned on buying fish for Lector soon. Lucy twiddled her thumbs while thinking about what she was going to say, really hoping that her words for thanking him would not come out in a bad way, and her cheeks became filled with a pink blush. After be able to join Sabertooth and have Sting help her out in a fight, how could she possibly repay him for all of that?

Her heart palpitated while he got closer to her, now only being a few feet away, and Lucy looked into Sting's blue eyes while smiling. She took a few steps towards him while really wanting to show her appreciation for everything that he did for her, really finding this day to be one where the winds blew in her favor, and Lucy's love for Sting was growing like the trees in the gardens of Kazehana Town. This was truly the perfect moment for her to just show Sting a great amount of affection, even if she had to use her Lightning Magic to make fireworks shaped like hearts appear in the sky, but what would Lucy say?

"Lucy, this festival is so awesome! You and I could get some cookies or perfume, after I buy Lector some fish." Sting told her with a confident smile on his face, grinning while showing off his usual amount of coolness.

Lucy responded while blushing, really needing to thank Sting, "This day has been really good for me, you know. I'm really glad that you brought me to this festival, Sting. Fighting alongside you was amazing, but there's more than that. You're such a great guy, and I really lo-"

The Celestial Spirit Wizard soon found herself taking more steps forward, before her thoughts about Sting clouded her mind to where she tripped over her left foot, and Lucy ended up knocking Sting down. The blonde-haired girl fell downward enough to where she stretched out her arms to put them on Sting's shoulders, and Lucy's feelings for Sting were released in the form of her lips ending up being pressed against his left cheek while they fell to the ground. This situation only made Lucy blush more while closing her eyes, shocked that this was happening, and her entire face was light pink.

Sting blushed a light shade of pink from the kiss while finding Lucy's lips to be incredibly soft, her kiss not feeling forced at all, and the confident dragon slayer decided to give her a kiss on the right cheek. Falling to the ground was no big deal to him, as dragon slayers weren't exactly delicate daisies, and he even had durability during the fight. Still, Sting was pretty glad to be getting a kiss from Lucy. He had been liking her for a while now, and the blush on her face would obviously inform him that the feelings of love were shared. Their lips may not have touched, but kissing each other's cheeks was a nice start.

She quickly got off of him while blushing, feeling pretty embarrassed about how that kiss came from getting lost in her thoughts about what to do, and Lucy decided to just run towards the town's entrance while she held the yellow spell book in her left hand. Lucy really thought that Sting would get mad at her for being clumsy, as he could even tell her to not daydream, and some townspeople were watching them. Lucy actually liked feeling Sting kiss her cheek, but would he understand that the kiss was a result of Lucy's heart making her feelings come out? She hoped for it to just be a simple fall, but it was clear that fate wanted their friendship to become a relationship.

In fact, Lector saw some people happily smile at the sight of Sting blushing while he slowly got up. The light dragon slayer was pretty happy that Lucy kissed him, which would technically make them be on the road to being a couple, and he'd definitely not be mad at her. The kiss may not have entirely been on the lips, but a very sweet kiss of appreciation to Sting's cheek was a wonderful way for her to show him how she felt. In fact, Sting wondered if Lucy would kiss him again. He really felt the sparks fly, being much more amazing than sparks from Lightning Magic, but would Sting judge Lucy for fantasizing and not watching her feet?

* * *

 **In the nearby cafe...**

Takuya and Hizuki were taking one last look at the cafe that they'd been keeping closed, not minding that their bedrooms were on the upper floor of the building, and both of the mages bought green shopping bags with different desserts in them. They were going to set off on an adventure to a guild, Hizuki feeling very glad that Takuya's main challenge against Lucy was enough for the elder to want them as guild wizards, and Takuya merely frowned while he looked at the bags that they'd be holding while they traveled.

The fact that he used so much Wind Magic in that fight earlier reminded Takuya of an incident that happened a few days ago. He went into a forest to help Hizuki train with her Plant Magic, even hollowing out the trees in that forest to hide things that were stolen from the town of Kazehana, and making their explosive spells cause a ruckus in the forest had certainly been amazing. It felt really good to see Hizuki's skills improve to where she learned new spells on that day, and training for hours had allowed Takuya to show off his intelligence.

He was even smart enough to vanish in the wind with Hizuki when he could sense someone coming towards them in the night, and that certainly ended up being a close call. After all, they could've been severely slashed by those electrical attacks. Takuya was clenching his fists while seeming uneasy about the idea of joining a guild, thinking that his Wind Magic would really just be used for taking down more outlaws, but the smart guy's intelligence could help him end up becoming an S-Class wizard. After all, more training could help him obtain that title.

"Well, Takuya, we're going to join a guild and get some friends. It'll be nice to come back to the cafe soon, but I'm still stuck on where we should go." Hizuki explained to him in a calm manner while still wearing her torn clothes, before putting the index finger of her left hand to her lips.

Takuya replied with a cocky smirk on his face, chuckling while still having thoughts about a certain incident, "We should give these desserts to people in Lamia Scale. That guild may like the color green as much as we do, Hizuki, and I'll kick Lyon Vastia's butt. Since my spells are good enough to fight the famous Lucy Heartfilia to a draw, then my win of redemption in Margaret Town will not be a fluke."

Hizuki walked out of the cafe for a moment to think about how Lucy really helped her partner become a better person, her lips forming a smile while she thought about how it would be really good to fight alongside Takuya now, and she really hoped that Lucy would continue to have good luck in life. If she hadn't come to Kazehana Town, then Takuya would probably still be making winds to make the skirts of women go up. Hizuki did hope to fight Lucy herself someday, though, and that would probably be a joyous battle of intelligence. Takuya may have been a user of Wind Magic, but Hizuki felt like the fight against Lucy made Takuya's winds start to blow in a direction that would lead him and Hizuki to moments where they'd both feel satisfied.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 15? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. This story keeps getting more exciting for me to write. :)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Admiration & Apologizing**

* * *

Lucy sat down at the kitchen table in her apartment while she was eating some pancakes with maple syrup on them, and a frown was on her face. She also wore her pink pajamas on this lovely morning, looking at the rays of light coming through her window, but Lucy wasn't in a very happy mood. She had been thinking about what happened three days ago in Kazehana Town, clumsily planting a kiss on Sting's cheek, and Lucy wondered if the blue-eyed dragon slayer would think she was klutzy for accidentally tripping while not paying attention to her feet.

That only made Lucy sigh while she remembered Kira's advice about looking both ways when running, and that tip was probably a nice way of telling Lucy that she just needed to be more focused with certain things. Lucy was always able to focus in a fight, since there would usually be a good amount of intensity in a battle to assist her with staying focused, but romance was a different thing. Getting lost in Sting's dreamy eyes was enough to make Lucy's emotions really cloud her thoughts, but that was just something that would happen when a person was in love with someone.

Lucy hadn't actually spoken with Sting or went to Shioru Town for the past two days, feeling very nervous about how he would react to the kiss that she put on his cheek, and Lucy was also frowning because she felt bad about not speaking to him. Sting was a very good friend who would always try his best to make Lucy be happy, so he definitely didn't deserve to be avoided by her. In fact, she'd have to apologize for purposely staying away from him. Having thoughts about Sting reminded Lucy that she really needed to get focused on showing him some appreciation, and that started to make an idea form in her mind.

She could just ask him out on another date, and he'd hopefully agree to it. Their first date at the cafe in Magnolia did go smoothly, despite Natsu and Lisanna being there, and Lucy would probably go to a restaurant in the town of Shioru. Her brown eyes became filled with a sense of focus, as she even felt like it would be the perfect chance to ask Sting about being her boyfriend, and Lucy could tell that fate made her fall on Sting for a reason. If that was a sign for her to ask Sting about having their friendship escalate to a new level, then she certainly noticed it.

 _"This date is definitely going to be my chance to give Sting an apology. I shouldn't have been so quick to go home, especially after how he seemed to be having fun during the town's festival."_ Lucy thought to herself while her brown eyes looked apologetic, before they slowly got filled with determination.

Kira kindly asked Lucy while she appeared in front of the window, smiling as she had walked by, "Hi, Lucy! Are you not feeling well, or are you attempting to get the world record for the most days of laziness?"

Lucy was snapped out of her thoughts by hearing Kira's voice, along with how she was tapping on the glass window in a playful rhythm, and that prompted Lucy to get up from the table to open up the window. She closed her eyes for a moment because of how the sunlight started to shine right in her face, and that only made Kira giggle. Lucy hadn't exactly left the house for the past two days, which meant that she wasn't entirely used to the sunlight on a daily basis, but at least she would have a reason to not stay home today.

The blonde-haired girl glared at Kira for her snarky question, before giving her a look that was rather calm, and Lucy wanted to know about why Kira showed up to her apartment. The hazel-eyed merchant had a bag of jewels next to her, signifying that she already made some sales today, but Kira wasn't just in the town of Magnolia to sell items. She felt like checking up on Lucy, as it had been very concerning to see her run towards Shioru Town's train station without even looking back when Sting called her name, and Kira hoped that they didn't have a fight.

Lucy felt like it would be good to tell Kira about why she ran off while blushing, but then she assumed that the red-haired merchant would just giggle at the situation. Really, though, Kira wouldn't see Lucy kissing Sting's cheek as anything to be worried about. In fact, she had assumed that Lucy kissed the light dragon slayer because of how his right hand kept softly touching his right cheek while they ate dinner at a restaurant last night. It was like Sting couldn't stop thinking about that kiss, and he seemed to not care for how Lucy fell on him.

Kira watched Lucy go back to focusing on the date with Sting, seeing her comically hurry to her closet for the sake of picking out something nice to wear on this date, and the girl who wore a simple red shirt with green shorts to match had simply smiled. Lucy was definitely heading to the town of Shioru, and she'd get to see Sting. Kira's eyes glanced at the plate of pancakes that remained on the kitchen table, pretty surprised to see that Lucy hadn't eaten the other three yet, and she hoped that the delicious breakfast covered in maple syrup would not go to waste.

Lucy asked Kira in a somewhat worried manner while she chose some nice clothes, "Did Sting say he'd be handling any jobs today, or does he have free time?"

Kira responded as she remembered yesterday's events, "He's not very busy, especially since he got mad that I took the job he wanted to do in Eisetsu Town yesterday. Lucy, you should've seen how the ice was so slippery in that part of Fiore."

Lucy decided that she would just leave her pink pajamas on the floor, instead of putting them on the bed, and she began to put on the clothes that were picked out. She started to put on a red vest top while not caring that Kira surprisingly used some Fire Magic to heat up those pancakes, as Lucy made them with a low amount of heat involved, and Kira smiled happily at the sight of the pancakes having more of a brown color. She watched Lucy walk back to the kitchen area while wearing her red vest top with a black skirt to match, and the purple shoes nicely complimented the outfit.

Lucy smiled happily while seeming like she was ready to leave her apartment and walk towards the train station, but the red watch on Kira's left arm informed her that it was only 9:50 in the morning. Sting wouldn't exactly want to have a lunch date so early in the morning, especially if he would be waking up around this time, and Lucy didn't want to encounter him in a cranky mood. She decided to sit down at the kitchen table, gently touching the stack of pancakes to see that they were much hotter while they smelled really great, and that just made Lucy look at Kira for a moment while deciding that she'd use up the rest of the pancake batter.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the Sabertooth guild...**

Sting was currently in the master's office of the guild, sitting in a black chair while he had been behind a golden desk, and the walls of this office were golden while the carpet was red. Rogue came in through the doorway to set down a white plate that had a white cup of mocha coffee on it, since that was his current job as Sting's assistant, and his eyes took notice of how there were some papers on the desk. Sting seemed psyched up about the information on these papers, ready to sign his name on any dotted lines, and he was pretty happy about receiving the papers today.

They were important papers that involved the Grand Magic Games, stating the general rules that were applied to the competition every year, and Sting really wanted to sign them. However, his blue eyes shifted down to the bottom section of the first page. Guild masters weren't allowed to participate in the competition, since they could be overpowered enough to where they'd defeat all of the other teams with ease, and Sting groaned in a disappointed manner about that. If he couldn't be in any of the events, then how could he have fun?

The confident male with blond hair was looking forward to fighting Natsu again, really wanting to have a rematch against him, and Sting still felt somewhat embarrassed at how the fire dragon slayer defeated him and Rogue by himself. That certainly wasn't a proud moment for Sabertooth, as it had been the top guild in Fiore for seven years, so it was pretty harsh to get knocked down to being the second-best guild. Sting really wanted to fight, but the rules wouldn't allow that. Also, Minerva would most likely not let him make someone be the temporarily guild master while the tournament took place.

Even though Minerva had been out on a job for a while now, Sting still remembered how she scolded him greatly for losing that fight last year. He felt like there would be no point in even sending Sabertooth to the Grand Magic Games, since the team would probably lose without his strength, and that made it very difficult for Sting to fill out the paperwork. He did not want to put his teammates into something where they'd possibly get beaten in a harsh manner, and he certainly wouldn't want Jura Neekis from Lamia Scale to knock out one of his friends with one punch.

"Sting, why not put Lucy in the Grand Magic Games? Doesn't she have four Rainbow Crystals now?" Rogue calmly asked him while thinking that Lucy would be a good choice for the event that would take place months from now.

Sting replied as he looked unsure about that idea, not wanting Lucy to get hurt, "Yeah, but she only has four of them. I think she needs more training, especially if there are smart people like Takuya and Hizuki around. Rogue, I told you about how those two were clever with their tactics."

Lector added while he stood in the doorway, smiling in an arrogant manner as he folded his arms, "Sting-kun, you still helped Lucy-san get that green crystal. Maybe we just have to see who the next enemy will be."

Those words from Lector made sense to Sting, as he could see that Lucy was good enough to fight evenly with Takuya, but putting her in the Grand Magic Games would probably depend on how she fared against the next person who was involved with a Rainbow Crystal. The circumstances for getting those crystals were all different, as Sting gave Lucy her first one for the purpose of shopping at a store, and her fourth crystal came from Takuya deciding that she fought well enough to earn it. What would Lucy need to do, in order to get the other Rainbow Crystals?

As Sting started thinking about Lucy, though, his cheeks blushed pink at the thought of when she gave him a kiss. Sting felt like Lucy loved him just as much as he loved her, and he wouldn't just see her as a teammate. Lucy was the sweet girl who would soon be his girlfriend, as Sting decided to officially ask her if their friendship could become a good relationship, but Sting really hoped that she'd show up to the guild today. He hadn't been feeling happy on jobs without her by his side, and Sting even wanted to walk all the way to Magnolia for a chance to discuss the kiss with her.

He thought that Lucy ran off and avoided him because of how she was scared that he'd react in a bad way to the kiss, but Sting wouldn't be mad. He didn't seem to mind how she fell on him, either. After all, she did once fall down into ruins and have her fall be broken by landing on him. He wasn't really surprised that she unexpectedly tripped, as crazier things had happened in their adventures together, and Sting would definitely forgive her for that. Lucy was one of the nicest and confident girls that he had ever met, so Sting wouldn't mind giving her a kiss on the lips.

Sting began to fantasize about Lucy wearing an orange bikini while she'd be running down a sandy beach to be in his arms, looking just as pretty as the orange glow from the sunset that would be in the background, but he was soon brought back to reality by the sound of Rogue clearing his throat. The shadow dragon slayer had kindly told Sting that he could chat with Lucy in the guild, as Kira had gone to Magnolia Town today, and Rogue had softly hit the merchant in her back with a new spell known as Shadow's Eye. He could close his own eyes to see upward through Kira's shadow, and he could see her eating pancakes with Lucy while they talked about a date.

"It seems like Kira will bring Lucy back here, Sting." Rogue calmly told his friend while his eyes were still closed.

Sting responded while looking confident, before finally drinking the coffee, "That's so awesome, Rogue. Lucy can go out on a date with me, and I'll even stamp the guild mark on her."

The news from Rogue made Sting feel so happy, as he'd get to talk with Lucy again, and the light dragon slayer wasted no time with gulping down the coffee. He'd be sure to give Lucy the warmest hug of her life, and then he would kiss her on the lips. His heart was beating with happiness while he thought about which restaurant they could go to, and he'd probably enjoy seeing Lucy enter the Sabertooth guild for the first time. Sting turned his focus to Lucy, not caring about the Grand Magic Games right now, and he wondered if Kira was bragging to her about completing that job in Eisetsu Town.

That was another thing that the light dragon slayer could be disappointed about, as he really wanted to have fun with bouncing his attacks of white light off of glacial ice, but Sting actually got a lucky break from that job. Kira actually had to silently watch the princess of that town defeat an outlaw, which hadn't even been interesting for her to witness, and it only came with the reward of 70,000 jewels. At least that princess didn't have to hear Sting sigh about going through a snowy forest and a vast tundra to see her quickly defeat someone, or Sting would probably be running back to Sabertooth while feeling true coldness.

* * *

 **Two hours later...**

After Lucy and Kira had finished eating some warm pancakes, they had taken the next train to Shioru Town. The two girls were currently in a fashion store because of how Lucy wanted to buy a cute hat for her date with Sting, thinking that it would be nice to wear a hat that really went with her outfit, and Lucy was slowly walking around while she looked at the hats that were on sale. One of the hats was round and red while it was designed to interestingly look like flames that were going upward, but Lucy didn't really like that one.

Her cocoa brown eyes looked at the other hats on the top shelf, even seeing one that looked like a purple top hat with orbs of Darkness Magic on its sides, but nothing seemed to be very appealing. Kira had kindly offered to pay for Lucy's hat, since Lucy was generous enough to uphold their agreement of paying for the book when they first met, and she also thought about what would look good on Lucy. This fashion store even had cute bows that were made by the fashionable woman known as Samantha Kalos, but neither of the girls were interested in buying them.

Lucy kept looking at the shelves that were attached to the wall, trying to see which hat looked very appealing for a date, and she soon gasped in a happy manner from seeing a top hat that was on the bottom shelf. The hat was in an orange color while it was also in a small size, but Lucy picked up the hat and put it on her head to see that it was a perfect fit. That caused her to happily smile, and she looked at the white price tag that was attached to the left side of the hat. Lucy seemed somewhat startled by how the price for this hat was 47,000 jewels, but that was only a small fraction of the money that Kira got from her morning sales.

The Celestial Spirit Wizard pulled out the Verdant Crystal from the left pocket of her black skirt, thinking that it cutely matched the hat, and the sight of the Verdant Crystal prompted a white-haired woman to walk over to Lucy. This woman was slender while her hair was short, and she wore a blue T-shirt with some pink jeans to match. This woman also had red eyes like Rogue while she wore brown sandals, and she was the owner of this fashion store. Samantha Kalos informed her shops in Fiore that the green crystal was normally the fourth one on her list of the Rainbow Crystals, and anyone who had it could purchase the lovely hats that she designed.

"Excuse me, does this hat look good on me?" Lucy asked the red-eyed woman while looking around to see that the store only had a large glass window to display the dresses that people could look at.

The shop owner replied with a grin of possible success while looking at the hat, before smiling as she took a glance at Lucy's outfit, "It looks nice on you, ma'am. I really think you should buy it. Samantha's fashion is the best."

Kira added while walking over to the duo, giggling as she saw the price tag and its thread on the hat, "It's a great hat, Lucy. The tag says that the hat is cheap for me to buy, but it seems like Samantha Kalos doesn't mind having low prices for hats while her dresses are expensive."

As Kira proceeded to take out 47,000 jewels from the bag she held in her right hand, the shop owner simply folded her arms while explaining that the reports of high demands for hats made Samantha Kalos be generous enough to recently lower the requirement from five crystals to four. Lucy took out the other three crystals from her skirt's left pocket, which really made the shop owner look impressed, and the blonde-haired girl simply smiled as she put all of the crystals back into the pocket. Lucy felt like this day was starting to get better, as she wasn't frowning anymore, and Kira was certainly going to help her maintain that smile.

Lucy watched Kira hand the money to the owner of the fashion store, and then she walked out of the store while starting to look more focused. Now that she was back in the town of Shioru, Lucy felt like it would be good to see Sting. Giving him an apology for what happened a few days ago was her main priority, as well as asking him out on a date, and Lucy was planning on going to the Sabertooth guild for the purpose of speaking with him. She decided to walk up the street to reach the guild that was straight ahead, clenching her fists while she'd maintain her focus, and Lucy was hoping that this second date with Sting would go well.

Her heart was beating somewhat softly while she walked towards the guild, as this would be the first time that she actually entered the building, but Lucy couldn't afford to be nervous now. If she could handle a windy fight against Takuya, then she could certainly handle walking into her new guild to discuss something important with its master. Sting may have been the leader of the Sabertooth guild, but Lucy still saw him as a close friend who would understand how she felt. Sting would most likely not hate her for running off, so Lucy just had to hope that was the case.

Speaking of running, Lucy's determination for asking Sting out on a date had caused her legs to start moving faster. She was now running towards the guild with confidence in her eyes, feeling like this could work, and the girl who could summon Celestial Spirits also hoped that Sting was awake. It would be very rude of her to wake him if he was sleeping in the guild, and Lucy would also hope that the guild's entrance doors wouldn't be locked. If they were not open, then Sting was probably not at the guild right now. Would fate be on Lucy's side, though?

* * *

Lucy narrowed her eyes while she pushed open the yellow entrance doors of the Sabertooth guild, seeing that they were not locked, and her eyes began to look somewhat relaxed. She took some steps into the Sabertooth guild, and Lucy was quite happy to see how the guildhall looked. The floor was covered by a lovely red carpet while the tables were round with a nice brown color, and there were wooden stools near a bar that looked similar to the one in Fairy Tail. The only difference was that Sabertooth's bar had more kinds of coffee, though.

Two grey statues of saber-tooth tigers were on the left and right sides of the entrance, slightly startling Lucy, and the walls of this guild were golden like the guild's emblem in the Grand Magic Games. Lucy let her eyes scan the guildhall for a moment to see Sting sitting down at a table with Rogue, prompting her to start walking towards him, and Lucy didn't even react to the sight of Kira coming into the guild while she was putting a red bracelet on her left arm. The bracelet's beads were shaped like cherry red fireballs, but they probably weren't as red as the blush on Lucy's face.

"Excuse me, Sting. I'm here to see you, and I want to ask you out on another date." Lucy told him while her brown eyes were mainly focused on the fact that the table's plates had no food on them.

Sting replied as he turned to face Lucy, excitedly smiling at how she was here, "Lucy, it's great that you're here! I will totally go out on a date with you, and I liked that kiss on the cheek. Your lips are very soft."

That only made Lucy blush in admiration, as she really liked how Sting could be calm enough to shrug off how she fell on him, and she kept walking towards Sting while feeling very happy about he liked the kiss. He wasn't even mad at her for falling, which meant that Lucy had really just been worried about something quite petty, and a fall wouldn't even matter at this stage in their friendship. Lucy had already fallen on Sting once, and he actually liked how her clumsiness caused her to give him a soft smooch of affection.

Lucy was pretty happy to see the light dragon slayer get up from the brown chair, her heart starting to beat somewhat faster as he walked towards her, and Sting grinned while moving his lips in a cute manner. That only made Lucy giggle more while she thought about where to take Sting for a nice date in the town of Shioru, but he would probably be the one to decide the location. After all, Lucy ran all the way to train station three days ago without being familiar with any other parts of the town. She didn't want to get lost on any of the streets, so Sting would help her out.

As Lucy also thought about how she could start off her apology to Sting, she turned around to see that some of the mages in the guildhall were talking about her. Two girls were thinking aloud that Lucy was quite brave to ask Sting out on a date, as some of the girls in the guild were too shy to carry out the task of asking out some of the arrogant males, and other mages like Rufus were not really surprised to hear Sting accept Lucy's offer for a date. Whenever Sting was in the guildhall while Lucy would be in Magnolia, he'd mention her name at least ten times when talking about each mission.

That was certainly a nice way to show how much he cared about Lucy, even saying that Lucy was a pretty good teammate, and Sting really felt like he'd have fun on their second date. He didn't forget his desire to kiss her on the lips, however, and Sting would definitely be a great kisser. The blue-eyed dragon slayer looked back at Rogue to grin at him, pretty glad that he'd get to chat with Lucy on the upcoming date that would start soon, but his grin was soon followed by a look of shock from seeing Lucy suddenly bow her head in an apologetic manner.

"Sting, I'm so sorry about running off. I should've just told you that I wanted to show you some appreciation for everything that you've done for me, but I messed that up." Lucy told him with an apologetic facial expression, kinda sad that she made that task be a blunder.

Sting replied with a confident smile on his face, wondering why Lucy regretted a mistake that she just corrected, "How did you mess that up, if we're going on our second date? Lucy, do you really think that only the fanciest display of appreciation will please the great Sting Eucliffe?

That made Lucy widen her eyes for a moment, amazed to hear that her idea of a date was able to make Sting happy, and her fists softly clenched. Lucy felt like their friendship truly deserved to end up being a relationship, as she would apologize for making mistakes while Sting was the type of person who still admired her good qualities, and Lucy also felt admiration for how Sting was such a confident guy who never gave up. Even if Lucy were to be busy for a date, Sting would do his best to help her get other tasks done for the sake of having a date of enjoyment with her.

Lucy and Sting looked into each other's eyes while they both blushed, their hearts happily beating, and Lucy decided that it would be great for her to softly plant a kiss on Sting's lips. That soft kiss was followed by Sting returning it with a lovely kiss, making Lucy blush more while she felt the warmth of his lips, and Lucy closed her eyes as she felt Sting wrap his arms around her waist. Rogue calmly smiled at the sight of the two mages sharing a kiss, glad that they were now a couple, and he hoped that their date would go well. Kira was also smiling at the sight of her friends kissing, and they ended their first kiss while deciding to walk out of the guild for the purpose of having a nice date somewhere.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 16? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Also, I'd like to thank Cascade Cheney and FireBlitz for giving me different pieces of advice for my story. :)**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Confidence, Love, and Dating**

* * *

After walking out of the Sabertooth guild, Sting decided to help Lucy find a restaurant that sold delicious food for lunch. The two mages were currently sitting down at a brown square table while plates of steaks had been served to them, and Sting also ordered some salty rice balls as a nice side dish to compliment the delicious steaks. Lucy smiled happily as she used her knife and fork to cut her steak, breaking it up into smaller pieces that she could eat, and her cocoa brown eyes calmly shifted up from her steak to look at Sting.

He was quick to bite into the brown steak, really liking its taste, and Sting's fanged teeth were able to tear through the meat with ease. The food tasted very delicious, and Sting felt really glad that he could be on a second date with Lucy. She seemed to be more confident now, even having the courage to kiss Sting on the lips, and he was pretty glad that she was now his girlfriend. They were officially in a relationship, which was quite nice, and Sting promised himself that he would protect Lucy from harm. He would also be there for her when she had any problems, and that certainly made him be a great boyfriend.

The good part about being in a relationship was the fact that a guy could always try his best to please the girl who he was dating, and Sting would definitely do his best to make sure that Lucy was happy. In fact, he planned on buying her some pretty flowers. Still, buying gifts for her wouldn't really be enough to make the relationship have a wonderful feeling of love to it. Sting would want to know more things about Lucy, such as her birthday, and the light dragon slayer also thought about taking her to a place that could be pretty nice.

Lucy ate some pieces of steak while looking at Sting, also thinking about their relationship, and she began to wonder why Sting wasn't the type of guy who would shop for clothes. Sting just wasn't the type of guy who understood fashion, even failing to comprehend why the girls in his guild were really respecting that famous woman named Samantha Kalos, and he actually felt like the rule about Rainbow Crystals being a condition for shopping was kinda weird. Well, skill was required in the world of fashion. If a designer like Samantha was skilled, then she probably wanted her fans to become as skilled as her for the purpose of getting her fashionable items.

"Well, it's the first day of our relationship. Sting, what would be fun to you?" Lucy stated and asked calmly, smiling in a soft manner.

Sting replied while smiling confidently, before eating more pieces of steak, "Well, we could just go to the park and look at the butterflies. I know that's not exciting like a mission, though."

Sting honestly felt like there would be no harm in telling Lucy about his struggle to sign some papers this morning, and it would be good to just tell her about the Grand Magic Games. He would not force her to participate, and Lucy may not want to go through drama like in the last tournament. Sting also thought about he wouldn't get to be in the tournament this time, since he was the guild master, but he liked his position. Sting was a very likable master who got respected by the people around him, but he would have to break that news to Lucy.

The blue-eyed male calmly told Lucy that the Grand Magic Games were not an urgent matter right now, but he wouldn't be able to participate. This surprised Lucy, who was in the middle of eating a rice ball, and she remembered how Ivan Dreyar from the Raven Tail guild fought against Laxus. That was illegal to do in the tournament, since Ivan was the leader of the Raven Tail guild, but Lucy thought that Sting's confident attitude would cause him to temporarily appoint someone else as Sabertooth's guild master for him to take part in the events or battles.

Lucy looked relaxed while hearing Sting continue on about how the team probably wouldn't be very strong without him, and he also didn't want to go into the Grand Magic Games with an overly cocky attitude. That is partially what caused Sabertooth's downfall last year, and forfeiting the Chariot event wasn't exactly something that Jiemma was proud of. Even if Sting wasn't able to participate, couldn't he at least have some faith in the team that he would put together? After all, it was the responsibility of the guild master to decide who would represent the guild.

This may have only been the first day of their relationship, but Lucy and Sting needed to help each other out with their problems. Lucy touched Sting's left hand with her right hand while giving him a look of assurance, telling him that it would be okay, and she'd definitely assist him with getting through this dilemma. Just like how he helped her recently see that a clumsy fall was nothing to worry about, Lucy would help Sting understand that Sabertooth still had a chance to win. She actually thought about participating, but there was still the matter of getting the guild mark.

"Sting, I just realized that I've been a member of Sabertooth for a few days without having the mark on me. Maybe I can get Kira to stamp it on me, and then we can figure out what to do for the Grand Magic Games." Lucy explained to him while she looked concerned, as she still wasn't an official mage.

The light dragon slayer responded with a confident grin, glad that the conversation got interrupted by this lighter topic, "There's no need to worry, Lucy! When we get back to the guild, Lector can stamp it on you. Anyway, let's finish our meals."

As Sting went back to eating his steak, Lucy was pretty glad that her concern about the guild mark managed to make Sting confidently grin when he was telling her to not worry. She really liked seeing how Sting could be so positive, even when he was faced with a tough task, and maybe Sting was just unsure about the Grand Magic Games because of his bad experience in last year's tournament. Sting had no trouble with helping Lucy on the past four adventures that involved the Rainbow Crystals, and Lucy would help him select the right people for the tournament.

Lucy looked out the window for a moment to think about who would be good for the team, and that interestingly caused her to think about who the Fairy Tail guild would send to the Grand Magic Games. They wouldn't be able to have her on a team, since she was now in Sabertooth, and the two teams from Fairy Tail would possibly be very strong. That wouldn't really make Lucy worry, since her last opponent was quite tough to where the seventh spell was the one that made him admit defeat, and she felt like Fairy Tail was probably feeling confident about their own chances in the Grand Magic Games.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Team Natsu was currently in Makarov's office, all four members looking down at the floor in a very disappointed manner, and the mages were going to give Makarov the status report of a job that they had to handle two days ago. Erza clenched her left fist while feeling very frustrated about what happened, as it was such a simple job, and the twist that came from that particular client wasn't exactly fun. In fact, the team didn't get any money because of how Gray and Lisanna had enough common sense to run from the situation before it even started.

To be fair, however, they were ordered by that client to run away while they still had the chance. Gray and Lisanna took that opportunity, but Natsu and Erza wanted to at least try fighting the client. It wasn't hard for this female to make two of Erza's swords be destroyed by some bubbles of Water Magic that gave off a very chilling temperature, and Natsu's flaming fists didn't even make a dent to her body. That woman grabbed Erza and Natsu by their necks, before throwing them at their teammates, and the four members of Team Natsu ran off from that frustrated person.

Makarov spoke and asked in a calm manner while sitting behind the desk, his eyes reading the flyer that was brought back, "Erza, you just said that you all failed to get paid. What caused the client to get upset with you, especially when the job was so simple?"

Erza explained while she looked up at the old man, frustration in her brown eyes, "It's my fault, Master. I never should've told her to spare that lone outlaw, after she mercilessly killed the other five members of that gang with just one spell."

Gray added as he was still stunned that they had to watch someone who was so aggressive, "That lady didn't even want our help, Gramps! When we tried to run towards the outlaws, that lady struck us with her explosive magic! We were sent flying backwards, and got harshly slammed against the trees!"

Lisanna sighed while she thought about how the team merely took a job that involved watching a woman handle the job of capturing outlaws who were hiding out in the snowy forest, and Natsu only fought her because he was trying to help Erza. The scarlet-haired woman actually provoked the conflict by telling the wealthy woman that a good wizard would show mercy and just arrest the outlaws who she had to capture, but that aggressive lady felt like it would be better to tie up dead outlaws. She didn't want to keep one alive, especially when his teammates were easily crushed like ants beneath her feet.

The fact that Erza told her to spare one outlaw was enough to agitate the client, as she firmly believed that there was either victory or death in a battle, and sparing a weak outlaw was like showing mercy. The woman could never be merciful to an enemy who was so pitiful, and Erza even attempted to grab her left arm to keep her from being too much of a killer. Erza felt like a mission's rules should be followed, as killing someone would properly apply to a mission involving assassinations, and the simple task of capturing enemies just involved weakening them to where they could be tied up.

Lisanna folded her arms while looking really disappointed, feeling like Erza was the one who really blew it for the team, and she gave Natsu a saddened look that he could agree with. The fire dragon slayer hugged his white-haired girlfriend tightly, not wanting her to be upset about this, and he silently promised Lisanna that their next job would end up going smoothly. This job may have been a letdown to the team, but not getting paid was something that could happen. Well, at least Erza was taking responsibility for causing the team to feel like they failed.

Gray and Erza may not have really minded losing the chance to get 600,000 jewels, but Lisanna felt like she could've used some of that money to buy some nice things in Eisetsu Town for Natsu. Disappointment was in her blue eyes that were quite beautiful, and she felt like Natsu endured motion sickness on a long train ride for pointless reasons. She felt like the team endured the slipperiness of the freezing cold tundra for nothing, and Lisanna intensely felt mad about how the group walked through the heavy snow in the forest to just see Erza mess up their chance to get paid.

Lisanna told Makarov in a miffed manner while smiling, wanting a certain female wizard to understand that she was mad, "You know, Master, it is really sad that Lucy joined Sabertooth. If she and Sting haven't ended up dead on a job, then Lucy knows how to keep her mouth shut and just let strong clients decide an outlaw's fate."

Erza replied while looking offended, as that statement was clearly directed at her, "Lisanna, you are justifying murder when it's not necessary for a job that requires the outlaws to be captured!"

Gray and Natsu watched Lisanna counter that fact by defensively stating that she wasn't justifying murder, and the youngest of the Strauss siblings simply told Erza that watching someone kill outlaws had been better than possibly being next in line to get killed. Lisanna may have been a fierce fighter, but she was smart enough to not argue with a wizard who mercilessly eliminated criminals. Erza's habit of showing mercy obviously clashed with the client's belief of how opponents weren't allowed to be spared in a battle, and Lisanna observed that.

It felt quite ironic that Natsu and Gray weren't clashing with each other over who caused the job to end in failure, since they could both just say that Erza made a poor choice, and Natsu comically sneezed twice while he still felt very cold from walking through the tundra that was experiencing a blizzard at the time. Gray only wore a purple shirt and brown jeans while Lisanna was wearing her pink spaghetti shirt with thick black pants to match, and Erza was just in her Heart Kreuz Armor. Natsu wore his usual attire that he liked to wear, but no one had properly dressed for that job's coldness. On top of that, Lisanna's argument with Erza was very heated.

* * *

 **One hour later, at Sabertooth...**

Sting paid for the food and left the restaurant with Lucy for the purpose of showing Shioru Town's grassy park to her, letting her see all of the pretty flowers that were in the area while the grass was quite green, and he also let her know that his favorite coffee shop was close to the park. There was also a bar near the park as well, and Lucy had sat down on a bench with Sting to think about what they'd do for the Grand Magic Games. They had just sat there for an hour, trying to find some inspiration for ideas, but at least Sting got to chat with Lucy about how the flowers smelled just as great as the sweetest scents of perfume.

Sting and Lucy were currently standing near one of the tables in the Sabertooth guild while they smiled at Lector, who flew on to Sting's left shoulder while he held the color kit and stamp in his hands, and this was the moment where Lucy would receive her new guild mark. She watched the red Exceed open up the color kit that was in his left hand, showing the blonde-haired girl that there was a nice assortment of colors, and Lucy's brown eyes became filled with some curiosity. Which color would she pick? Would she choose pink again, and where would she want Sabertooth's guild mark to be stamped?

Lucy pulled out the Verdant Crystal from her black skirt's left pocket, really admiring its regular shade of green, and that prompted her to gently raise her left hand in the air while the back of it was now facing Lector. Lucy smiled confidently while her eyes focused on the minty shade of green that was in the color kit, as the regular hue of green seemed to be fading out, and she nicely pointed to the circle in the kit that was filled with the mint green color. Lector put the Sabertooth stamp into that color, getting most of it on to the stamp, and Sting's Exceed grinned confidently while he put the guild insignia on the back of Lucy's left hand.

That was an interesting place for her new guild mark, since the former insignia from Fairy Tail had been on the back of her right hand, and Lucy took a moment to gaze at it. She was now an official mage of Sabertooth, really happy hat she'd get to do many jobs for her new guild, and Lucy let out a cheer of happiness. She began to playfully dance around while wanting to make a song about Sabertooth was such a great guild, but Sting probably wouldn't like her idea to start singing because it would most likely make Orga join in with his bad singing to really make that song lack harmony.

"Now that you've got the guild mark, I guess that we can go out on a simple job or just relax here." Sting told Lucy in a kind tone while he smiled, happy to see that she was in a cheerful mood.

Lucy replied in a somewhat frustrated manner, as her eyes widened at memories of this morning, "Oh, man. I just remembered that the spell book is back at my apartment, Sting. I came here mainly to apologize and ask you out on a date, but I guess that I'm not always thinking ahead."

Kira interrupted the conversation while she sat down at a nearby table, looking into her bag of money for a moment, "Lucy, you shouldn't forget the spell book like how you forgot to give more heat to those pancakes. At least you're lucky that we're friends."

Lucy watched the red-haired merchant pull out the yellow spell book from her bag of money, guessing that Kira took it off the brown desk after Lucy left the apartment before she did, and Kira simply threw the book to her. Lucy caught the spell book with her right hand, putting the Verdant Crystal down on the table for a moment, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard opened up the book. She flipped through the pages to find a picture of the yellow Electric Crystal, along with instructions for a certain pose that went with it, and Lucy still needed to try out this new power.

The Electric Crystal had E-Power just like the Earth Crystal that was used before it, but the pose would be different. Lucy's eyes scanned the instructions for a moment, and she proceeded to follow them. She moved her left foot backwards while stretching out her right arm, and Lucy had to focus her magical power into her feet as if she'd be running at high speeds after making this pose. Lucy proceeded to run while pulling the yellow crystal out of her skirt's pocket, causing a yellow aura to surround her body, and she began to dash at incredibly high speeds!

Lucy felt her feet moving incredibly fast while she made a right turn, dashing past some people who were about to eat cheeseburgers for lunch, and she felt the Lightning Magic build up inside of her. Lucy's left hand touched a rickety table that had one of its four legs broken off from Kira accidentally striking it on her first day as Sabertooth's recent rookie, and Lucy turned back around to speed past that table. She attempted to strike the broken table with the move known as Volt's Ball, only to have that turn into a very large amount of electricity that surrounded her body, and Lucy ended up colliding with the brown table!

The force of her collision with the table caused it to be sent flying straight towards one of the large glass windows in the guildhall, shattering the glass into tiny fragments that the other mages managed to evade, and that broken table was surrounded by a yellow aura of Lightning Magic! It soon hit some trees, causing an extremely large explosion of lightning to occur, and seven waves of electricity were spreading out in different directions! They would electrocute whoever was in their path, before creating yellow blasts of electricity around those people, and the fact that the waves went in different directions meant that this move could be used to strike multiple people.

"Wow, that was amazing!" Sting exclaimed while looking out at the damaged trees, before realizing that he'd need to get the window fixed.

Lucy replied as she dashed towards the window, remembering a nice detail in the spell's instructions, "Sting, this will be even cooler. Return, my blades!"

In a few seconds, the seven waves of electricity sped back towards the window to bounce upward and touch Lucy's left fist. They did this one by one, sending their energy into her body, and Lucy could feel the intense power giving her more strength. She felt her feet move faster for a few moments, running over to Sting for the sake of asking him if she used a cool spell, and Lucy moved at lightning speeds. Her high movement from the Lightning Magic impressed Orga, who watched Lucy giggle as she dashed around, and Lucy stopped running for a moment to make herself come to a screeching halt.

She turned around to see that the trees near the Sabertooth guild had been destroyed, being torn apart while the explosion caused them to also be on fire, but Lucy was more shocked at how her high-speed movement caused the red carpet to have black scorch marks on it. Small amounts of smoke rose out of them while they appeared to be quite hot, and Lucy felt somewhat embarrassed about that. The carpet would obviously have to be washed for those marks to come out, and Lucy would definitely volunteer to handle that task. Did she need to be ashamed of the effects of the spell's wild lightning, though?

Sting gently tapped Lucy's left shoulder to get her attention, before giving her a soft kiss on the lips, and Lucy's cheeks blushed strawberry pink from how her boyfriend was giving her a kiss of admiration. Sting really liked Lucy's powerful spell of Lightning Magic, along with how she cleverly used the force of her collision with the table in a smart combo with her high speed, and he broke the kiss for a moment to give Lucy a happy smile at how she was becoming more confident in herself. He could see that Lucy used the spell with no hesitation, not even worrying about what would come from it, and getting her attention with a kiss caused Lucy's embarrassment to mostly shrink.

The Celestial Spirit Wizard put the Electric Crystal back into her skirt's pocket while she proceeded to walk over to the table where the spell book was located, seeing the Verdant Crystal next to it, and Lucy decided to try something cute. She picked up the green item with her left hand, before gently throwing it up into the air, and Lucy's brown eyes focused on the Rainbow Crystal. She watched it land in the center of the yellow spell book, and the Verdant Crystal let out a natural green glow. The beams of light that went down into the book were surprisingly mint green, not being a regular shade of green, and the spell book shined in accord with the Verdant Crystal.

"Wow, these Rainbow Crystals are amazing. Wherever the next one is, we will totally get it and show the world that Sabertooth is an amazing guild!" Lucy cheerfully stated while she confidently looked at Sting and Kira, before giving Lector a happy smile at how he stamped the insignia on her.

Kira thought to herself while smiling at Lucy's words, remembering their first encounter, _"When our paths literally collided, I didn't really think that Lucy would be the type of mage who could go very far in the ancient challenge. As she proves to be confident and smart, though, I'm starting to believe that she just might end up going all the way to the end."_

* * *

 **Two hours later, near Eisetsu Town...**

Lucy may have been feeling very confident and happy about how the day went well for her, but the same couldn't really be said for a woman who was walking through the snow while she could see an icy lake in the distance. This woman had periwinkle blue hair that was tied back in a ponytail with a yellow barrette, along with having two pigtails frame her face, and this woman also had blue eyes. Her skin was pale while she wore a blue bodysuit with blue heeled boots to match, and she wore black anklets with those boots. The woman also wore blue gloves that were also worn with black anklets, and she also wore light blue earrings that were shaped like ocean waves.

In fact, this woman was heated up from the fact that she'd be returning to Eisetsu Town while using her left hand to drag a large bag of jewels through the snow. She liked the fact that lots of money was earned from defeating dark mages who were supposedly S-Class wizards in a far-off guild, but the blue-haired lady felt very frustrated. Why did she need to be so angry? Normally, a mage would be happy to get jobs done and earn rewards. This woman also got tons of recognition from the people in Eisetsu, so what was missing?

"It just never ends, does it?! Why must some dark mages end up being such weak trash?! You may be my butler, but this job was once again a waste!" The woman asked and exclaimed while slamming her right fist against a nearby tree, causing some snow to fall off its branches.

The man who walked behind the woman asked in a calm manner, seeming curious, "Why are you never satisfied, Princess? Why must you always want to fight more, even after easily defeating criminals on a daily basis? Why must you be the powerful woman who behaves like a spoiled child?"

The princess was named Clair Emperté, and she was actually the daughter of the mayor who ran Eisetsu Town. It had actually been a pretty nice town that was kept in order, never having anything more chaotic than some people who would loudly enter the town to gripe about the snowstorms that they had to endure, and Clair herself was tough enough to stop any criminals who would attempt to enter the town. She was also strong enough to help people deal with avalanches that occurred on the snowy routes, and it wasn't surprising to her that a certain team ran from one in the tundra when a pink-haired male loudly clapped his hands near the large mountains that were covered with heavy amounts of snow.

Clair's butler was a man named Hayato Mijumaru, and he was a young man who looked to be around Sting's age. Hayato wore a dark blue tuxedo with dark blue pants to match, and he also wore black dress shoes as well. Hayato's hair was blue while it covered his right eye, and his eyes were blue like Clair's. Hayato's job was to serve the princess, even picking out tasks that would always suit her strength, but even a job that paid 800,000 jewels was still not enough to make Clair happy. Hayato's curious look became a frown while he silently wondered about what Clair wanted, since she was never satisfied.

It was great to bring tons of money to the town on a daily basis, helping the townspeople thrive, and many girls even looked up to Clair because she was like an older sister. She'd even show off her powerful magic to the men who were looking to date her, aiming her explosive attacks at trees or mountains to intimidate those flirty males with her ferocious strength, and her father didn't even want to try marrying her off to anyone. After all, that person could experience an icy death or be in a watery grave if they ever tried to give any orders to Clair.

Clair merely growled at Hayato's questions while looking pretty frustrated, not wanting to be called a spoiled brat, and she was incredibly irritated right now. Every opponent that she came across had proven to be too weak to handle the spells that she would use, and easily winning battles had actually gotten on her nerves. The fact that some criminals even ran away at the sight of her was enough to make Clair let go of the bag that contained the money, and she clenched her fists while feeling that the thing she desired was still not within her reach.

"Hayato, I'm a powerful princess. Warriors with vicious amounts of strength should be coming through the tundra and snow to fight me. Maybe my frustration would be quelled, if I were to have a fight against someone on my level."

The blue-haired butler asked Clair in a stern manner, feeling like she was being naive, "Is that really what you want, Princess Clair? Will you enjoy battling with a strong opponent?"

Clair responded while she proceeded to start walking towards the lake, still frowning as she was unsatisfied, "It would be a pleasure to eliminate a foe who is worthy to challenge me. Although, every single job you've made me do has just made me take out the trash. Hopefully, you're not referring to one of those idiots who tried getting in my way two days ago."

Hayato only chuckled at that last part while he proceeded to pick up Clair's bag of money, having no intention of bringing the members of Team Natsu to face Clair, and the calm butler actually began to think about how the princess really did act spoiled. Hayato himself was a mage who took jobs from the legal guild known as Winter Snowflake, and this guild was actually the current winner of the Fiore Winter Games. That was a tournament only held in the months of winter for mages who used Water Magic or Ice Magic, and the participating guilds would compete in battles while strictly doing winter-themed events in Eisetsu Town.

Just because Clair's father gave Hayato the order to have her be a member of the guild, Hayato thought that Clair was really naive. There was more to being a wizard than just defeating enemies, as every wizard needed to think about what their motives would be, and Clair didn't put much thought into what she wanted to do with her life. There were some wizards in Eisetsu who wanted to be the best snowboarders in Fiore while some of the girls desired to be amazing skiers who could handle the winter event of battling while going downhill on skis. There were even young kids in the guild who wanted to make large snowmen, so wasn't it unfortunate that Clair had no goals?

She was a princess who could have the goal of leading the town when her father would retire from being the respected mayor, and Hayato wouldn't even care if Clair wanted to be seen as a queen. At least she would have a goal that could be reached someday, and then she could be satisfied about it. That would be better than seeing her currently be frustrated about not having good enemies to fight against, as her complaining tended to happen on a daily basis, and Hayato also hoped that the princess wouldn't be prideful enough to be a sore loser in anymore battles. After all, seeing her be angry about getting second place in the ice skating event of the Fiore Winter Games had been quite scary.

As Hayato walked through the snow at a somewhat faster pace to catch up with the frosty princess, he soon felt curious about something that he saw in the town's bar a few days ago. Hayato had been drinking hot cocoa at the time while simply watching an Eastern-looking woman with black hair speak to customers about how Sabertooth was the best guild in Fiore, saying that Fairy Tail only won the Grand Magic Games because of how she had to hold back, and this woman who wore her favorite blue dress even had the nerve to loudly bring up how the strong princess was frosty royalty who couldn't hold a hot candle to the people in her guild. Hayato wasn't really offended to hear someone speak about Clair like that, even if they were handling a well-paying job to be a bartender for a while, but he wondered if that woman was spreading true rumors.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 17? Feel free to share your thoughts on it. I'd like to thank Cascade Cheney for reviewing, and I also thank FireBlitz for giving me a review in a message. Also, I'd like to thank everyone who has favorited and followed this story.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Towering Blues & Frosty Duels, Part 1**

* * *

Lucy and Kira were in the grassy park of Shioru Town on this calm morning, simply standing across from each other while they wanted to have a good fight, and the two girls were just going to have a friendly match. Lucy's spell book became mint green three days ago, and she had opened up the book to see that some spells of Wind Magic were now available for her to use. Lucy trained in the mountains with Sting for three days, using her spells with a high amount of focus involved, and she felt really confident in her abilities. That didn't stop her from wanting a nice battle with Kira, however.

Kira smiled happily as she liked hanging out with Lucy, pretty glad that they'd get to see each other's great skills, but the red-haired merchant felt that it was unfortunate that Sting wouldn't get to watch this battle. He was out on a job with Lector, needing to handle the task of buying some cola bottles that would be delivered to Hikari in Voltage Town, but the light dragon slayer would most likely be back before noon. It was only 9:45 in the morning right now, and Sting left an hour ago. Lucy was pretty glad that her boyfriend cutely kissed her on the cheek before leaving the Sabertooth guild, but now she would focus on the fight.

Lucy grinned confidently while gently raising her left fist, ready to unleash her first spell of Wind Magic, but she was suddenly interrupted at the sight of Kira looking puzzled about which spells to use. She hadn't exactly followed Lucy and Sting to see their fights that happened in the mountains, not wanting to see an attack strike the mountain walls for an avalanche of rocks to start tumbling down, so it would be somewhat hard for her to pick out a spell. After all, it would be kinda bad to shoot out a fiery attack that would easily get countered.

At the same time, Kira also didn't want to injure Lucy with any high-level spells of Fire Magic. Kira's hazel eyes looked deep in thought while she knew that some of her powerful attacks could create blazes that were quite hot, even having spells of fire that could explode on contact with an opponent, and Kira wasn't really used to friendly fights. Her job as a merchant would take her to many different places, encountering foes who would want to rob her or even try killing her for some free goods, and Kira was really accustomed with beating up enemies. She couldn't see Lucy as an enemy, though, and that just caused her to happily giggle.

"Kira, what's so funny?" Lucy asked curiously, hoping that she wouldn't see their fight as one that would only last five seconds.

The girl with red hair explained while her smile became slightly more relaxed, thinking that they could do something else, "It's kinda hilarious that you want us to fight, Lucy. Even though I haven't seen your spells yet, you should realize that my spells can be very dangerous. I don't want to injure you severely, or Sting would spend the rest of the day yelling at me."

Lucy responded as she could understand Kira's reasons, also smiling while she had an idea, "Well, you could tell me about how yesterday's job went with Rogue. After all, he and Frosch seem to like hanging around you."

That caught Kira's attention while she proceeded to walk over to a brown park bench, watching Lucy follow her while she'd get to hear this nice little story, and Kira would enjoy telling it to her. Kira gently cleared her throat before she began to tell Lucy about how she went out on a job with Rogue, and they had to cook food for a restaurant. The task of cooking food was easy for Kira, as her Fire Magic could sometimes be more efficient than an oven, but Rogue was simply sighing at some of Kira's antics. In fact, he was amazed that she'd use her Fire Magic to heat up bread.

Kira and Rogue had been in a nice shop that only sold sandwiches in the distant town of Koume, but they'd only get paid if the sandwiches tasted quite great. Kira had actually picked out this job for them to do, since she actually wanted to try a steak sandwich that had lots of cheese on it, and Rogue agreed to it because he actually didn't want his quirky friend to burn down the place. Rogue was able to make the sandwiches for the customers at a quick pace, especially after he got familiar with the different types of bread that could be used for sandwiches, but he looked over at Kira's table to see something interesting.

Rogue had been making one sandwich at a time, as he had the task of making lunch for the customers who didn't want their sandwiches to be oven-baked, but his eyes widened in shock from seeing Kira hastily prepare five sub-sandwiches. She gently heated them up with her Fire Magic, making the bread have a nice brown color while it would be crispy, and Rogue's nose could easily detect the scents of Kira's sandwiches. They were baked while the cheese seemed to be slightly melted, and the vegetables surprisingly had little puffs of steam coming off of them.

Lucy was amazed to hear that Kira laughed about doing that while Rogue had kindly reminded her to use the oven that was in the kitchen, but Lucy widened her cocoa brown eyes from Kira's words about how she was just being very efficient. In fact, she even wanted him to leave the kitchen if he didn't think it was right for her to magically bring the heat to the sandwiches. Both of the mages from Sabertooth managed to get paid, but Rogue and the shop owner had been quite stunned to hear that Kira sold fifty sandwiches. She was a merchant who was great at selling items, and she simply adapted that focus into making sandwiches.

Lucy told her friend in a happy manner while looking pleased about that story, "Your skills as a merchant really help you out with jobs, Kira! You seemed to be pretty confident about making all those sandwiches, and you were probably even sure that your fire wouldn't burn them. When Sting and I cleverly use our spells to get the next Rainbow Crystal, I'll definitely have a great story to share with you."

Kira replied in a somewhat snarky manner, giggling at how Lucy was starting to get just as confident as Sting, "Don't let your head get too high in the clouds, Lucy. You did pretty well to get four Rainbow Crystals, but intelligence with Wind Magic isn't always enough to make someone get blown away."

That merely prompted Lucy to kindly retort with how brains would outweigh brawn in any situation, and she began to think about the fight that happened with Takuya. That battle involved spells while intelligence was the key factor in deciding who would win, and being evenly matched with him had simply proved that their levels of cleverness were nearly equal. Strength was quite important, but it would be pretty useless if the spells weren't able to hit their target. Sting had helped Lucy focus on being very confident and being pretty smart, but would that be enough for them to always succeed?

* * *

 **45 minutes later, in a different part of the town...**

Clair looked quite miffed at the fact that Hayato made her leave the town of Eisetsu to take a four-hour train ride to the town of Shioru, not exactly impressed with how the area was far less colder while snow didn't reach the town, and the woman with periwinkle blue hair wondered why her butler would bring her to this place. They sat down at a pink table in an ice cream parlor, Hayato having a nice bowl of vanilla ice cream while Clair simply ate some blueberry ice cream, and the two mages did have some business to handle here. Well, Hayato was the one who wanted to gather information before making the princess join him on his fourth day here.

Hayato had come here for the past three days to not only buy things for Princess Clair as a way of explaining his absences for many hours of those days, but the blue-haired butler had also been here to eavesdrop on people who would talk about the mages who were in the Sabertooth guild. Hayato thought that it would be a waste of time to confront one of the wizards directly, as it would be a shame to hastily find an opponent who would hardly be worth Clair's time in the end, and simply spending time in the town of Shioru allowed him to overhear some nice rumors.

He got to hear Rufus and Orga have a conversation in the clothing store about how Lucy Heartfilia seemed pretty happy to obtain her fourth Rainbow Crystal from a tough battle, and Hayato was pretty intrigued to hear Rufus say that Lucy was living up to the expectations of a Sabertooth mage. His blue eyes were focused on the man who wielded Memory-Make Magic while Rufus even brought up how the blonde-haired girl was far stronger than she had been in Fairy Tail, but that only made Hayato feel like her strength was possibly something that Clair would like to see. He wouldn't bet on her truly being satisfied in the end, but one rumor on his third day of eavesdropping caused Hayato to smile in a pleased manner like how he was smiling now.

He had walked down a street in Shioru Town while hearing a certain wizard with dark green hair in front of him tell his orange-eyed partner how it was a shame that Lucy hadn't been at the Sabertoot guild while they were actually in Shioru to handle the simple job of replanting some trees that were recently destroyed by Lightning Magic, and Hayato chuckled softly from hearing that this girl named Lucy fought quite well against the great Captain Takuya. Hayato surprisingly believed his boasting to Hizuki about how anyone else who faced Lucy would probably get defeated, and she was definitely a girl who Hayato would try to find.

"Princess, I hope that you'll find what you want from a fight against this Sabertooth mage. It could prove to be difficult, though, so I'd advise you to not be overconfident." Hayato explained to Clair as he looked calm, before looking at her blue bodysuit.

Clair responded in a stern manner, folding her arms as she looked out the glass window for a moment, "You might be getting cold feet for this challenge, Hayato, but it sounds interesting. Strong women are easy for me to pick out, and the moment she uses a spell is when I'll sense her magical power."

Hayato thought to himself as he closed his eyes, folding his arms while he frowned, _"If she truly is powerful, then I hope you'll be satisfied from this fight."_

As the butler opened his eyes for a moment, he saw Clair clench her fists while her blue eyes widened with a sense of delight. She was now smirking, almost like somebody just used a high-level spell, but why would someone use a destructive spell without immediately creating an explosion? This still got the princess feeling ready for a fight, getting up from the table to run out of the shop, and Hayato would simply pay for the bill while hoping that Clair wouldn't try anything too crazy in this town. He looked out the window for a moment to see that she suddenly stopped, however, and Hayato could see Clair suddenly have an astounded facial expression.

The strong woman was quite surprised to see that strong spell she sensed had come from Kira, who made the four large flames of red fire combine to form a powerful sphere of flames that was in her right hand, and Kira planned on throwing it at a tree to show Lucy its destructive power. This was actually a new move that she'd been working on, thinking that it could be named Hell's Flaming Ferocity, and Lucy walked beside Kira while curiously eyeing the sphere of flames. The two girls felt that it was really hot, ready to see it in action while they walked a few steps past the princess who looked at them, but Clair was quick to break up their conversation by grabbing Kira by the back of her pink midriff shirt.

Lucy was quick to face the blue-haired woman who had grabbed her friend, seeing her smirk more at how that spell seemed like a powerful one that she'd enjoy to crush in a tough fight, but Lucy was somewhat intimidated by how Clair was at least nine inches taller than her. She watched Kira use her left hand to try and break Clair's grip, succeeding because of the fact that the princess of coldness just wanted to inform her opponent of the challenge, and Kira didn't even mind the nine-inch height difference. If this tall woman was a bully, though, then she'd certainly get roasted.

Clair's blue eyes shifted from right to left, looking down at the two women who simply gazed up at her, and that powerful spell made her assume that she clearly found Lucy Heartfilia. Lucy and Kira were actually on their way back to the guild, feeling somewhat bored by how the employees of the clothing store were not around right now to have the store open, but this situation was more interesting. Clair began to chuckle while cracking her knuckles, pretty glad that she ran into her opponent, and she didn't even care that Lucy's right hand tightly clenched the mint green spell book.

Lucy asked Clair in a stern manner, wondering what was going on, "Who are you, and what's your problem? Why did you grab her like that?"

The princess of Eisetsu Town replied to Lucy in a harsh manner while glaring down at her, thinking that she was just in the way, "I have no business with you, mage! I need to have a little talk with Lucy, and I am Clair Emperté. My magic can send you to a watery grave, if you don't watch your mouth around a strong princess like me."

Kira replied with her smart mouth while not being intimidated by Clair, thinking that she was pretty dumb, "My name is Kira Blazia, and I remember you from that job I took. You just told Lucy that you have no business with her, but she can blow you away. In fact, Lucy's Wind Magic will help her get the fifth Rainbow Crystal soon."

Clair could only look very shocked at her mistake, seeing that this blonde-haired girl who wore a green T-shirt with a pink skirt to match was Lucy Heartfilia, and she already had four Rainbow Crystals. Clair's shock turned into a stern glare while she used her left hand to aggressively pick Lucy up by the bottom of her shirt, lifting her off of the ground to where they could look straight at each other's eyes, and Lucy was really hoping that Clair wouldn't choke her. Kira watched Hayato come out of the ice cream parlor while he walked over to Clair's side, signifying that she didn't come alone, and Hayato was simply remaining calm.

The woman with a frosty personality sternly told Lucy that she challenged her to a fight for the sake of seeing who was stronger, and she even stated that Lucy should expect to fight mages from other guilds. Lucy kindly told Clair that her partner named Sting wasn't here right now, and that only prompted the princess to tell her opponent that she could bring him along later. Clair sternly informed her that she'd track her down if she tried to run from this fight, and Lucy would most likely end up getting destroyed in a situation where innocent bystanders would be involved.

That only caused Lucy to fiercely glare at her, not wanting innocent people to get hurt in something that didn't concern them, and Clair smiled in a somewhat impressed manner from seeing a fierce look of determination enter Lucy's cocoa brown eyes. She lowered Lucy down to the ground while informing her that they'd fight in the icy cave that was on the route involving the icy tundra, and the battle would happen at 4:00 in the afternoon. That gave Lucy at least six hours to prepare for this battle, but she would have to spend four hours on a train with Sting.

Clair began to walk away from Lucy and Kira while she felt like her opponent didn't need any information repeated, and she merely scoffed while thinking that Lucy would just be a weakling. Hayato simply looked at the girls and sighed, hoping that Clair didn't scare Lucy, and he began to follow the princess while hoping that this fight would really quell her frustration. Lucy's confident mood from earlier had started to slightly wane, as Clair's tall stature and her intimidating personality made Lucy feel uneasy, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard watched Clair walk towards the train station with her butler. Lucy could sense Clair's strength during the conversation, feeling that it was quite immense, and she began to frown a bit while heading to the Sabertooth guild with Kira.

* * *

 **One hour later, in the Sabertooth guild...**

Sting got back from his job that took place in the town of Voltage, pretty happy that he got to see the town in a decent state while Hikari seemed cheerful about receiving the soda bottles that she'd give Ayame as a birthday present, and the light dragon slayer was smiling brightly as he walked into the Sabertooth guild. Sting let his blue eyes scan the guildhall for a moment, able to see that Lucy sat alone at a brown table while Kira and Rogue chatted at another table, but Lucy looked like she was feeling down. The mint green book was on the table while she gazed at it with a worried facial expression, and that prompted her boyfriend to run over to the table.

The blue-eyed male wondered about why Lucy looked really worried, her brown eyes appearing to be filled with some uncertainty, and Sting decided to sit down in the chair that was across from hers. Lucy looked like she was deep in thought right now, thinking about how Clair was quite a fearsome person, and the blonde-haired girl had been wondering if she would be able to survive this fight. Lucy dealt with opponents in the past, some of them being stronger than others, but none of the prior enemies gave her a strong feeling of fear. She was about to keep thinking about how the situation would play out, but the sound of Sting loudly snapping his fingers had gotten Lucy's attention.

"Lucy, what's wrong? What are you thinking about?" Sting kindly asked his girlfriend, wondering why she was in a gloomy mood.

The Celestial Spirit Wizard explained to Sting in a concerned manner, as she started to open the book, "Sting, someone and her butler have challenged us to a fight! She was a tall woman who looked very strong, and Kira told me how she once watched that terrifying lady obliterate her foes in a fight near Eisetsu Town."

Sting responded while chuckling a bit, as he could understand why Lucy felt some fear, "You're telling me that a towering opponent makes you feel somewhat nervous, so you probably want to hide. I wanted to run from my first fight with a giant monster, too."

His words caused Lucy to narrow her brown eyes while she informed him that Clair would not let her run away from this fight, and it would be bad for Lucy to be tracked down in a situation where innocent people would get hurt. Lucy wanted to become a stronger mage, which was quite a good goal, and that goal itself involved being strong enough to keep innocent people from being killed. She didn't want to see civilians suffer for something that wasn't even their business, so Lucy wouldn't even think of running from this fight.

Lucy also wanted to be a smarter mage who could cleverly defeat opponents, and the fight against Takuya was something that had entered her mind quite a few times. As Lucy had thought about what happened in that battle, she realized that clever techniques would really be needed against high-level foes. She felt like the power of her spells was something to think about, but a strategy mattered more to Lucy. If she couldn't use her moves in smart ways that would put the battle in her favor, then she would probably die at the hands of someone who could use their spells in very clever ways.

Her eyes began to lose their uncertainty, starting to be replaced by some confidence that she had in herself, and Lucy told herself that she wouldn't plan on losing. She had been a wizard in the Fairy Tail guild, and now she was a mage in the Sabertooth guild. The rule of not giving up in a battle had still applied, and Lucy would fight with every single spell of Wind Magic that was available to her. She clenched her fists while feeling like confidence would be very important in this fight, and Lucy felt like she could even display her confidence in the face of adversity.

Lucy simply stretched out her left arm for Sting to give her a high-five, happy when his hand touched hers, and Lucy felt like she could do well with the light dragon slayer by her side. Sting wouldn't let Lucy end up dead in a fight that would seem quite tough, and he felt like she was a pretty awesome girlfriend. He felt like it wasn't going to be much trouble for them to battle these creeps, intent on sending that tall woman down to the ground, and Sting grinned as he looked psyched up for this fight. Hearing about where it would take place, however, could probably make him not say that their chances of winning were quite high.

"Sting, that woman told me that the fight would take place in an icy cave that's on the icy tundra's route. It'll be cold, so I'll go see if the clothing store is still selling winter coats." Lucy explained to Sting in a calm manner, before getting up from the table to walk out of the guild."

The light dragon replied nicely, smiling as the description of icy terrain was concerning, "We should be careful to not slip and fall in that cave. Also, these guys can probably make water be involved in this fight as well. Still, don't be afraid. We're going to put the freeze on these icy challengers."

As Lucy walked away with a smile of warmed confidence, Sting began to think about he'd have to ride a train again. He really hoped that Kira didn't have any plans right now, as that spell known as Healer's Burning Flame could definitely come in handy, and there was something else weighing on Sting's mind. If the icy tundra was truly south of the snowy forest like how he had once seen on a map, then there would be two good reasons to use an explosive spell that would blow Clair out of the cave. In fact, these reasons were pretty crucial while they seemed pretty interesting.

Sting didn't want the entire fight to take place in the icy tundra, since falling on ice could be just as fatal as falling on ice that was above a cold lake, and staying in the icy cave would probably just allow Clair to use spells of Water Magic or Ice Magic. He remembered when Kira told him about how the job went in Eisetsu Town, seeing Clair use blue beams of magic to defeat her enemies with ease, and that was most likely Water Magic. An icy cave could help her freeze her own spells, making them be hard like large chunks of ice, so that was one reason to try moving the fight out of the cave.

The second reason to not just fight in the cave was based on Sting assuming that the ice would keep him and Lucy from moving around easily, as they could slip or slide in directions that could make their attacks miss, and moving the fight to a forest with snow would make it easier for running around. Sting never liked to slip on ice, as he felt like it was a cruel joke like slipping on a banana peel, and he'd certainly make Clair or her partner get beaten down by his white light. After all, they challenged Lucy to a fight in such a cold place without even waiting to ask him about it.

Sting got out of his chair to ask Kira about accompanying him and Lucy, mainly to just keep him from getting motion sickness on the train, but Sting probably wouldn't like to hear that the train ride would be four hours long. At least he'd get to happily chat with Lucy on their way to Eisetsu Town, and the team would simply make their way south towards the frozen tundra. Of course, Sting would be running fast in an attempt to avoid any blizzards or icy winds that would be quite chilling. The idea of fighting Clair had already given Lucy a frosty feeling that she didn't like, so a nice win would definitely bring some more hotness to her confidence that had gotten some warmth.

* * *

 **Four hours later, in the icy cave...**

After taking a long train ride to Eisetsu Town, Lucy and her friends had headed west towards the icy lake. Kira led her and Sting down south when they got to the lake, running through the snowy forest with them while they were all looking confident, but the red-haired merchant did stop at the sight of the snowy ground ending at a border where the frozen tundra was on the other side. Kira let Lucy and Sting know that she'd act as a lookout to keep travelers from going into the icy tundra, not wanting them to head into the icy cave, and the other protagonists were fine with her doing that. Besides, Kira's Fire Magic would help her stay warm.

Lucy wore a pink winter jacket that had four red buttons on it while she also wore some pink ski pants, and she wore some brown snow boots as well. She had bought Sting a blue winter jacket that had two light blue buttons on it, along with some black snowboarding pants, but Sting decided to just wear his favorite black shoes with the designs of yellow fangs that were on the bottom of them. The duo had been able to spot a cave that had large pillars of ice on its left and right sides while the cave's walls were covered by a heavy amount of snow, and the cave itself appeared to be at the lowest part of an icy mountain.

Sting and Lucy went through the cave's entrance to immediately see that the battlefield would be quite wide while some pillars of light blue ice were on it, and there were even some icy rocks that appeared to be turning into water. Lucy could tell that Clair was definitely going to fight hard, as this icy cave matched the pretty cold attitude that she gave Lucy today, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard saw her opponent standing a few feet away from the wall while she was on the other side of the path. Hayato stood next to Clair wile he simply gave Lucy a calm look, ready to see this fight, and he didn't mind that Sting came along.

The princess grinned in a pleased manner from seeing that Lucy showed up at least fifteen minutes early for the fight, glancing at the new blue watch on her wrist that was shaped like a snowflake, and she was even more pleased to see Lucy sternly glare at her while fierce confidence was in those brown eyes. Clair turned her attention to Sting for a moment, seeing that he also seemed pretty brave to face her on this cold afternoon, and the two Sabertooth mages seemed like they were ready to win. Lucy was quick to open up the mint green spell book with her left hand, preparing to start things off with a spell, but Clair arrogantly cleared her throat.

"You're finally here, Lucy Heartfilia. The fierceness is still in your eyes, I see, and your friend also seems confident. You probably know how to fight well, or you must not understand that I'm quite skilled with the ice and water." Clair told Lucy in a confident manner as she folded her arms, staying still on the ice.

Lucy replied calmly as she looked back at the blue-eyed woman, not forgetting her past fights, "I know that you're strong, Clair, but I've also fought other wizards. As the battles for Rainbow Crystals get tougher, I realize that I have to fight strong opponents like you. In fact, you'll see the power of my strategies with this Wind Magic!"

Hayato thought to himself while looking somewhat impressed by Lucy's response, _"That girl is quite spirited for this fight."_

Clair started off the battle with a spell known as Aqua Pierce, and that caused her to jump high up into the air while grinning confidently. She let her right foot and right leg cross over her left foot and left leg, almost like she was performing a forward scratch spin in midair, and Clair's focus with her Water Magic made a blue drill of dense water engulf her body while she began to let it spin her in a clockwise direction at high speeds! She headed downward towards Lucy at high speeds while Sting got out of the way, but how would Lucy counter this move?

Lucy activated the first spell of Wind Magic, and it was known as Zephyr's Breath. She fired a spiraling mint green beam of Wind Magic at Clair's spell, seeing that her own spell spun just as fast as her foe's, and Lucy exhaled some breaths of air towards her spell for the sake of increasing its power. The collision of the two spells caused icy winds to blow across the battlefield with harshness, giving this fight the chilly feeling that it deserved, and Sting shivered a bit while feeling the wind start to push him backwards. Still, whose attack was stronger?

Hayato was soon surprised to see Lucy's spell win out, as it managed to slow down the rotation of Clair's drill while she was also hit directly by Zephyr's Breath, and Clair was sent falling down towards some icy rocks. She crashed into them while the spell's air had gathered around her to create a mint green blast of energy that looked strong, making Lucy smile a bit, and Sting felt like Clair was just tough with talking. If she couldn't withstand that spell's damage, then she shouldn't have picked a fight? Would the beginning of a fight really define the entire battle, though?

Lucy and Sting watched the mint green clouds of smoke clear up to not only reveal that Clair only suffered minor bruises while she slightly bled from that spell, but she was still able to perfectly stand without even wobbling. Lucy widened her eyes in shock from seeing this, thinking that some enhancement to Zephyr's Breath would've done a fierce amount of damage to any opponent, but Clair's years of training with dense water attacks allowed her to focus that same density on her body with the Aqua Pierce spell. If she didn't use that move, then far more damage would've been taken.

"Well, that hurt. You must have some good spells, Lucy." Clair told her in a pleased tone, before snickering in an arrogant manner.

Lucy simply replied in a calm tone, amazed by what she was seeing, "This battle will be more difficult, or even harsher than I expected it to be."

Clair took a few steps towards Lucy while grinning, before she unleashed a spell that was simply known as Watery Smash, and the intimidating woman unleashed four drills of blue water from her hands. They were half the size of the drill created by Aqua Pierce, still spinning at a rapid pace, but Lucy wasn't going to let Clair's attacks slam into her to create any explosions. That would certainly make Lucy be weakened, and that wouldn't be good at this early point in the fight. Luckily, though, she had a nice move for countering obstacles like this.

She unleashed a spell that was called Aerial Shield, and this spell simply made a large cloud of Wind Magic appear in front of Lucy. The cloud was mint green while it faintly glowed in the same color, and the shield was soon struck by Clair's attacks! It bent back a bit, before bouncing Clair's projectiles back at her with Wind Magic now infused into them, but Clair slid back on the ice to dodge the attacks! Four blasts of energy occurred while Clair could see puddles of water being left behind, and she was pretty glad that a reflected spell still retained its nice side effect.

Clair's Water Magic made a ball of water rise up from one of the puddles, before water from the other puddles rose upward to strengthen it, and Clair snapped her fingers as a command for the spell to take the shape of a drill. The ball followed her orders, before she tapped it four times to recreate the four drills from before, and the puddles added more water to the projectiles for their strength to increase. Their spinning speed would increase as well, making them even more dangerous, and the princess punched them all in an aggressive manner while they were sent towards Lucy at high speeds.

The blonde-haired girl felt like her shield could withstand this attack once again, not caring that one drill harshly struck the middle of the shield, but the other three drills were surprisingly aimed at the first one! The drills soon created dark blue blasts of energy when they made contact with each other, having enough force to shatter the shield while the fourth blast in the chain sent Lucy flying high into the air, and that just gave Clair an opening. Lucy watched her opponent skate around the icy field on her blue heeled boots, before jumping on to the tip of an ice pillar, and the force from that jump allowed the icy woman to propel herself high into the air.

"Your confidence is pretty high up in the air, but I'll make it come crashing down!" Clair sternly told Lucy as she appeared above the brown-eyed wizard, before punching her in the stomach while a blue aura surrounded her left fist.

Lucy responded while feeling pain, wincing as she grabbed Clair's long ponytail, "You're intimidating and serious, but I hope you can handle a serious fall!"

Lucy's hands grabbed Clair's hair while she proceeded to throw her down at an ice pillar, watching her crash into it, and Lucy herself was sent crashing down into the ground! Sting looked quite worried about his sweet girlfriend, before turning to Hayato with a displeased facial expression, and the butler with blue hair simply bowed politely while he'd be glad to fight Sting. It would certainly be just as interesting as watching the two women fight quite hard on only their second spells, but they were interrupted by the sound of ice shards sliding across the floor.

Lucy got up while looking pretty serious, having some bruises from that harsh fall, and she looked over at Clair to see her get up while the pillar of ice behind her had majorly been broken. Since Clair was good at enhancing her attacks to give them a decent amount of speed, Lucy decided to give herself some nice speed by jumping on top of a large chunk of ice. She used her third spell of Wind Magic, and it was known as Windy Punch. Some mint green winds engulfed Lucy's right fist, and she stretched her right arm outward as if she was throwing a punch! That caused some harsh winds to blow towards Clair while Lucy herself was harshly pushed back on to a pillar that curved upward, and Lucy began to slide down the pillar at high speeds! In fact, she even put her arms and legs in the proper position for downhill snowboarding.

Clair could see the harsh winds go towards her while they soon felt like harsh punches to her body, admiring how Lucy's spell merged itself with the density of the icy wind to increase its power, and Lucy was sliding around the battlefield while giving Clair a look that informed her that the punches of wind were payback for that recent punch of Water Magic. Also, Lucy thought that this new speed would help her win the fight. However, Clair believed that she could match that high speed with ease. In fact, she felt like her third spell would make the watery tide of this battle be in her favor while it would make her be just as fast as Eisetsu's best snowboarders. What would her spell be, though, and how was it going to work?

The princess simply picked up some large chunks of ice, before stuffing them into her mouth, and Clair's Water Magic allowed her to create water that was scalding hot or freezing cold. The water in her mouth became incredibly hot, wasting no time with melting the ice down to half its size, and Clair swallowed that ice while feeling quite confident. Two auras began to surround her body, one being dark blue while the other was light blue, and Clair started to run on the ice while she wore her boots that doubled as her personal skates. Clair ran quite fast, zooming from one icy pillar to another, and this spell had been known as Frost Speed.

Lucy could hear Clair running behind her at impressive speeds, making her look quite worried, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard turned around to grab Clair's right fist with her right hand. Clair aggressively kicked the chunk of ice out from beneath Lucy's feet, causing Lucy to lose her balance while the icy floor wasn't any better, and Lucy gasped in shock from seeing Clair give her a cold glare of frostiness. The blonde-haired girl was soon kneed in the chest by Clair, before feeling the woman roughly grab her hair to lift her up, and Lucy hoped that she wouldn't be killed.

"This is the power of Sabertooth's strongest woman? You think that you're pretty clever, but how is being smart with spells the same as having intense physical power to help your magic roar with viciousness like a raging sea? Could you even push me back with your fists?" Clair asked Lucy in a belittling tone, before dealing a harsh punch to her stomach while Hayato ran towards Clair for any orders of assistance.

Sting replied while looking pretty upset at how Clair was being aggressive with Lucy, running towards the tall woman's partner, "Lucy may not fight much with her fists, but I certainly have enough experience to knock both of you out with a few hits right now!"

* * *

 **How was Chapter 18? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. I'd like to thank Cascade Cheney and FireBlitz for their respective reviews in the review section and in messaging. Also, Lucy and Clair are evenly matched in their different ways.** **This chapter was also done to develop interactions between certain characters, too.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Towering Blues & Frosty Duels, Part 2**

* * *

Sting ran towards Hayato with fierceness in his blue eyes, not wanting the blue-haired butler and the princess to team up against Lucy, and the light dragon slayer unleashed his White Dragon's Roar attack. Hayato simply slid away from Sting, avoiding the beam of light that he unleashed from his mouth, and he simply watched it bounce off of the icy wall. The attack went towards Hayato, who simply took the attack that had gotten faster, but Sting was shocked to see that the beam of light barely did any damage. Why wasn't Hayato injured?

The calm man simply dusted himself off before he unleashed some white icicles from his hands, closing his eyes as he politely smiled at Sting, and this spell was known as Icicle's Grace. The white icicles went towards Sting, who dodged them, and he saw the projectiles hit the ground to create a light blue blast of Ice Magic! Some cold winds entered the cave for the sake of blowing away the smoke, letting Sting see that Hayato's attack left behind five ice shards while they looked sharp like dangerous spikes, but that wasn't Sting's main concern.

He saw the icy spikes quickly melt down into water, before the water started to become frozen, and the frost began to go towards Sting. He slid on the ice to evade it while also having the smart idea of getting off the battlefield, but Sting turned around to see that Clair still held Lucy by her hair. He fired the Holy Ray spell at Clair, only to have Hayato freeze it with a spell called Frost's Iciness, and Sting's white beams of light were frozen in midair. He groaned in frustration while seeing Hayato merely smirk at him, thinking that Clair's partner wasn't like Gray Fullbuster or Lyon Vastia, and that was a pretty true statement.

Sting looked at the icy field while feeling that the field wasn't covered in natural ice, also sensing that the pillars weren't made from normal ice, and it became clear to Sting that Hayato was the one who designed the field while also freezing those rocks. He really wanted to help Lucy out, but Hayato would just interfere. However, Sting looked at the frozen rays of light for a moment. If Hayato wielded ice that was explosive, then wouldn't a nice explosion create some icy wind? After all, Clair would probably get blown away by this.

"Hey, Clair! Have a harsh taste of your friend's medicine!" Sting told the blue-haired woman in a confident tone while starting to smile, as he broke off rays of ice at their bases to hold them in his hands.

Clair asked him in an irritated manner, not wanting to deal with Lucy's partner, "What in the world are you doing with that ice, you fool?!"

Hayato commented in a somewhat shocked manner, realizing what Sting was up to, "Princess Clair, let go of Lucy Heartfilia right now!"

However, his words were spoken too late. Sting threw seven long rays of ice at Clair, watching her and Lucy get caught in the light blue blasts that were quite large, but that caused Clair to release her grip on Lucy. The blonde-haired girl slid away from that situation while also seeing the icy winds send Clair flying against an icy wall with a hard slam, and the blasts were quick with dying down. Lucy went over to Sting while feeling really glad that he helped her out, but this fight was far from over. In fact, Clair and Hayato were just getting started.

Some blood trickled down the left side of Clair's face while she felt some pain from those harsh blasts, and she didn't mind the fact that Lucy unleashed her fourth spell of Wind Magic. It was known as Windy Twister, and this spell made a mint green twister of wind appear on the field. The twister split itself into four, before all of the twisters slowly moved around in a circle, and Lucy hastily moved the index finger of her right hand in a circle to speed up the twisters. They spun in a counterclockwise direction as their speed increased, making the battlefield be quite windy.

That would not stop Clair, however, and she ran towards one of the twisters while hoping to crush Lucy with one blow from her fist. The winds were too strong, though, and Clair got pushed back against the wall with a loud slam. She opened her eyes to see that Lucy made the four twisters head straight for her, creating four mint green explosions of Wind Magic at the same time, and Clair groaned in pain from the intensity of this spell. She felt it deal damage to her body while falling to her knees for a second, but Clair still managed to stand up.

Lucy glared at her with fierce eyes, determined not to lose this battle, and seeing Sting also grin in a confident manner had caused the aggressive woman to start clenching her fists. Clair's teeth were clenched while she growled in a manner that showed anger and irritation, and seeing Lucy's fierce eyes only made Clair desire to destroy that fierceness. Those fierce eyes containing a motive were something that Clair actually lacked, as her eyes only displayed her thoughts of defeating this opponent, but Clair wanted to definitely show why she was the strong princess of Eisetsu Town.

"Hayato, I'm taking this fight seriously. If Lucy has the nerve to glare at me with that fierceness, then I'll use my ferocity to beat her to a bloody pulp!" Clair angrily told her partner while a blue aura began to engulf her body, showing that she had lots of magical power left inside of her.

The butler slid on the ice while replying to Clair in a stern tone, before grabbing her right hand with his left hand, "Then, crush them! Show them how strong you are, Clair!"

Lucy told Sting in a concerned manner while opening the mint green book, "If she has so much strength left, Sting, then her next spell could make this fight become very dangerous!"

Clair watched Lucy run towards the entrance with Sting, which prompted her to slide on the ice with Hayato before aggressively jumping high into the air with him, and the irritated female unleashed a powerful move known as Killer Aqua. This simply made Clair shoot out a blue ball of Water Magic from her left hand, aiming it straight down at the battlefield, and Clair smirked at the sight of a large blue explosion occurring! It broke through the icy battlefield while also making large chunks of ice rise into the air, but this was only the first part of Clair's attack.

She followed up with a spell known as Scalding Destruction, and this caused Clair to shoot out a massive cyclone of scalding hot water from her mouth! The cyclone spun quite rapidly while it headed down towards Lucy, absorbing the large chunks of glacial ice to increase its density, and this combination of spells was the reason why bandits who had heard of Clair would say that she was the princess who doubled as a cold killer. Clair and Hayato simply watched their enormous attack head down towards Lucy, who looked quite shocked while the winds made pages turn in the mint green book.

Lucy pressed her right hand down on a page that was about to cover a spell that she needed to see, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard wasted no time with focusing her magical power into a spell known as Zephyr's Windy Rage. This spell caused a mint green ball of Wind Magic to be fired from Lucy's right hand, and the book required her to also exhale air towards this attack. Lucy exhaled three times, causing three miniature tornadoes of wind to surround the ball, and the ball pierced right through the eye of the cyclone! It kept heading towards Clair at a fast pace, but which powerful spell would strike first?

Sting and Lucy were struck by Clair's spell, creating a massive blast of Water Magic that was light blue before it became a regular shade of blue, and the two mages screamed in pain while they were caught in the explosion that destroyed the front half of the cave! Clair had been hit by Lucy's fifth spell that created four massive explosions of Wind Magic, and Hayato found himself to be caught in those powerful explosions as well. The wind sent them flying backwards while it still pushed towards them, and a massive mint green blast of Wind Magic occurred! It destroyed the back half of the cave while Clair and Hayato also let out screams of pain, and the remnants of the cave began to loudly collapse.

The powerful blasts and the cave's collapse were all quite loud enough to get the attention of Eisetsu Town's residents, making them wonder if this would cause another deadly avalanche to occur, and it would be bad to not have Clair around in that situation. The power of both spells could even be felt in the snowy forest where Kira stood with red flames in her hands, making her look worried about what was happening in the icy tundra, but the red-haired merchant would keep doing her job of keeping travelers from going to that frozen wasteland.

* * *

 **15 minutes later...**

Clair and Hayato had managed to get out from underneath a pile of ice chunks, simply looking at the billowing black clouds of smoke that were keeping them from seeing the other side of the wasteland, and Hayato nodded his head in a calm manner while thinking that their side had won. The calm butler seemed pretty glad about this possible victory, but his female partner growled in an extremely annoyed manner. Clair looked extremely upset while her fists were clenched, upset that the fight ended this quickly, and she really wanted to punch something. Clair even made scalding hot water engulf the soles of her feet for a moment, and she aggressively stomped on a chunk of ice to angrily melt its remains into a puddle of water.

Hayato and Clair may have been bruised up from Lucy's attack, but the man with blue eyes bit into some chunks of ice to activate a healing spell known as Icy Reign. A light blue aura surrounded Hayato while his wounds began to heal, but Clair would reject the idea of healing herself. She was far too irked right now to even think of that, really thinking that this fight against Lucy was supposed to quell her obsession with defeating enemies, but it looked like that wasn't the case. Lucy's fierce eyes meant that she accepted Clair's challenge when they met, but was Lucy just weak?

Hayato thought to himself as he sighed sadly, thinking that he wasted three days with eavesdropping, _"Even with her powerful spells and mighty fists, the thing that Clair still wants is continuing to not be within her reach."_

 _"Why?! Why am I still so irritated?! I should be happy with the fact that defeating more enemies will make me get stronger, but the feeling of irritation just gets worse! I always crush my opponents, but something besides the feeling of satisfaction is still missing!"_ Clair thought to herself while looking extremely annoyed, before turning around to walk away.

As Clair was about to start walking, however, she turned around just in time to see a large sphere of white light head straight for Hayato! The blue-haired princess wasted no time with getting in front of her partner, only to see that this attack was followed by a much larger beam of white light, and this was different from White Dragon's Roar. This move was the one that Sting used in the Grand Magic Games, and combining it with White Dragon's Revenge was certainly a good idea. Would this cool combo end up working in his and Lucy's favor, though?

The two attacks struck Clair directly while Hayato got out of the way, watching an extremely large blast of white light surround the princess, and Clair screamed while she took lots of damage from Sting's attack. Hayato watched Clair's blue bodysuit become torn in certain places while she appeared to get wounds that were bloody, and some blood even trickled down her arms. Clair was only pushed back by the attack, however, and she coughed up some blood while the powerful attack even made two lines of blood go down her face.

The smoke cleared up to reveal that Sting was panting heavily while Lucy stood beside him, both of the wizards being bruised and bloodied from Clair's vicious attack, and the duo from Sabertooth refused to lose this battle. Lucy may have slammed into the icy ground, but she wasn't going to give up. Lucy felt like she came too far as a mage to give up, wanting to become a stronger person who was also smart enough to be respected by her peers, and Sting would certainly help her make that desire become part of reality. He even grinned confidently while feeling like it had been the perfect time to activate White Drive for the sake of making those attacks be so powerful, thinking that he and Lucy achieved their best victory as a team, but it would be too early to celebrate.

Sting watched the smoke clouds clear up to reveal that Clair was still standing, her arms covered in blood while that attack certainly damaged her, and that made the light dragon slayer feel quite shocked. Lucy also widened her eyes in amazement at the situation, seeing that the icy princess of Eisetsu Town was still standing, and Sting could only pant heavily while he couldn't believe it. Even after using White Drive, Clair still stood like a powerful warrior. The tall woman didn't intend to lose here, and she still didn't feel satisfied.

"My irritation hasn't been quelled yet, and your attacks are just a waste to me." Clair told Sting and Lucy while panting a bit, as she still had more magical power saved up.

Sting thought to himself while groaning in frustration, only having enough power left for one attack, _"She took the attacks directly, but she still stands. Clair probably trains hard with that dense Water Magic to make her body be like tempered steel..."_

The light dragon slayer looked over at Hayato, seeing him to be Clair's ally who greatly assisted her with his spells, and Sting simply ran towards him with a look of frustration. If he could knock out the blue-haired butler, then there would be no one to back up Clair. That would make it very easy for Sting and Lucy to fight her, not having to worry about the ice, but Sting's plan wasn't going to work. As he ran while trying to maintain footing on the ice, Sting was met with Hayato skating towards him at high speeds. Even when wearing dark blue dress shoes, Hayato's high experience with skating made it be easy for him to do it in these shoes.

Sting was quite glad that he activated White Drive, as it also allowed him to have high-speed movement, and getting pretty close to Hayato was the perfect opportunity for the blond-haired male to punch him in the face at least seven times while white light surrounded his fists. Sting thought that some hard punches to the face would leave Hayato feeling dizzy, but he was pretty shocked to see that Hayato only sustained minor wounds that were bleeding. Just like how Clair would engulf herself with Water Magic that was dense, Hayato would absorb the ground's icy properties with his Ice Magic and focus his ice to where it was hard like a glacier. Swallowing some chunks of that glacial ice on the ground for years allowed Hayato's overall density to be quite great, and he demonstrated the benefits of eating ice with a move called Blizzard Kick.

Hayato kicked Sting in the chest with his left foot while focusing his Ice Magic into the kick, and Sting was sent rolling backwards to Lucy's feet while feeling extremely cold. He started to shiver while noticing that Clair's fifth spell had torn off his blue jacket while Lucy's pink jacket was also torn off, and the icy winds in the tundra weren't making the situation any better. Lucy knelt down by Sting's side while wanting him to hang in there, hoping that the cold air wasn't numbing his body at a quick pace, but even she was starting to feel the cold air's effects.

Clair simply watched her opponents in their frosty dilemma, thinking that they also failed to give her what she wanted, and the princess felt like this fight was over. She activated a spell known as Piercing Blues, and this move made Clair fire a drill of scalding hot water from her mouth! The spell quickly headed towards Sting, who could barely move while guessing that Hayato's magic was also infused into the ice that started to freeze his feet, but Lucy soon moved in front of her boyfriend to block the attack with her bare arms! The hot water spread outward while it didn't hurt Sting, but Clair's attack got the coldness off of Lucy's arms.

The summoner of Celestial Spirits felt like it was her time to counterattack while she pulled out a key from the right pocket of her pink ski pants, prompting her to open the Gate of The Golden Bull, and Taurus was summoned. The muscular spirit smiled confidently while Lucy commanded him to slam his axe known as Labrys into the ground, and Taurus proceeded to jump up high into the air. He came back down while slamming the axe against the icy ground with an intense amount of force, making the ground break apart while chunks of ice were propelled upward to reach high altitudes, and this would be the first part of Lucy's next attack.

"It's time for me to unleash the sixth spell, and it's known as Windy Coolness!" Lucy shouted fiercely while looking determined to win, her eyes regaining the fierce look from when she first met Clair.

Clair replied in an aggressive tone, panting a bit, "No matter what it is, Lucy, your spell won't work!"

Lucy soon sprang up high into the air, similar to what Takuya did when he used the spell known as Fun Wind, and the girl with cocoa brown eyes felt Wind Magic engulf her hands. She went down towards Clair while hoping to turn the tables of this battle in a close-range situation, the cold air from the ice chunks boosting her spell's power, and Lucy could see Clair running towards her while pulling back her right fist to propel it forward for a powerful punch. Lucy's right fist was aimed down at Clair while the blue-eyed mage raised her fist up at her foe, but looking into Lucy's fierce eyes for a single moment caused Clair's fist to stop cold in the middle of her punch!

That gave Lucy an opening to punch Clair in the head with her powerful spell, before slamming her down on to the icy ground, and Lucy punched Clair in the chest three times when she tried to get up. The Wind Magic in those attacks sent Clair flying back towards Hayato, who had noticed the fierce look in Lucy's eyes, but Clair quickly got herself up from the ground to see Lucy send Taurus back to the Celestial Spirit World. This fight was still not over, and Clair ran towards Lucy. She was definitely planning to finish her off, but Lucy wouldn't end this fight without using her seventh spell.

She grinned confidently while activating her seventh and final spell of Wind Magic, liking how it was named Crazed Hurricane, and Lucy soon saw four feathers appear in her right hand. She threw them towards her opponent, who watched the feathers form a square around her, and these mint green feathers quickly began to spin! Clair found herself inside of a mint green maelstrom, sensing the intensity of this Wind Magic, and the maelstrom's walls quickly slammed together to create a mint green blast of energy that was quite massive! Clair groaned while enduring this attack, and she began to clench her teeth.

Lucy watched the blasts quickly fade away, only to be caught off guard by Clair running through the mint green smoke while she looked very bruised as she was bleeding, but the Sabertooth mage looked at the Wind Magic that still surrounded her right hand. Lucy focused her remaining Wind Magic into her feet, allowing her to run at high speeds, and she tackled Clair down to the ground! Lucy hastily turned her attention to Hayato, getting up to lunge towards him, and Lucy would definitely make sure that Sting's efforts didn't go to waste.

"Clair, she's headed straight for me!" Hayato exclaimed while looking stern, wanting to see Clair finish this fight.

Lucy responded to Hayato and Clair in a fierce manner, managing to grab Hayato's left wrist with her right hand, "You two are a good team, but it'll be easy to throw one person at the other!"

"Let go of him, Lucy! You must really want to die by refusing to give up!" Clair told her opponent in an irritated manner, getting up to grab Lucy by the back of her green T-shirt to keep her from harming Hayato.

The princess of Eisetsu Town managed to throw Lucy down to the ground, before aggressively kicking her away, and Clair watched Lucy struggle to stand up while they both panted heavily. Lucy turned around for a moment to see Sting struggling to stand up, the ice making his legs feel quite numb, and that only made Lucy stretch out her arms to form a barrier that Clair wouldn't be able to pass through. Lucy didn't want Sting to take anymore damage, especially after how he tried so hard to fight Hayato, and these two enemies were quite challenging. They may have been neutral characters, but Clair and Hayato were quite serious.

Clair's body was once again engulfed by a blue aura, as she charged up some power, and she ran towards Lucy! Hayato watched Clair try to strike Lucy, only to see the fierceness return to Lucy's brown eyes, but Clair got around that by kicking her in the chest with an intense amount of force! Lucy was sent sliding backwards while she coughed up some blood, before taking a few steps forward to keep protecting the guy who she admired, and Hayato began to frown at the sight of Clair repeatedly punching Lucy in the face. In fact, he wondered why Lucy wasn't giving up.

Lucy stretched her arms out once more, wanting to protect Sting from Clair's wrath, and the tall woman struck Lucy in the stomach with another powerful punch! Lucy stood her ground, though, and she refused to budge. Just like when she was in Fairy Tail, Lucy wasn't going to give up. Just like how the wind could be powerful enough to block someone from moving forward, Lucy was going to block Clair. She would continue to endure the punches and kicks until the very last moment, just as she did in the Naval Battle during the Grand Magic Games, and Lucy could even hear Clair pant heavily.

Clair clenched her right fist tightly while feeling like Lucy was just too persistent, sliding back on the icy ground towards Hayato for this finishing blow, and it would also be her final spell of Water Magic. Some cold water surrounded Clair's right fist while it took the form of five large drills that were stacked together, meaning that this punch would greatly drill through Lucy, and Clair ran towards her opponent who only had enough magical power left to stand. This fight would come to an end, and Clair gave Lucy a harsh look while telling her to just die already.

"This is the finishing blow, Lucy!" Clair told her in a ferocious tone while pulling her right fist back, lunging it forward as she got closer to Lucy.

Sting shouted in a very worried tone while he didn't want Lucy to die, seeing Clair's attack about to land, "Lucy, get out of the way!"

As Clair tried to strike Lucy, however, the sight of the blonde-haired girl glaring at her with eyes of fierceness was enough to make the aggressive woman's hand completely freeze up before the attack could even touch Lucy's body. Clair wasn't able to move her hand at all, unable to hit Lucy, and all that she could do was look into those fierce eyes. Hayato took notice of what was going on, beginning to realize that there was something Lucy possessed while Clair lacked it, and he felt like this battle could come to an end.

* * *

 **Five minutes later...**

The sun began to wane in the background while the icy winds stopped, making the icy tundra look just as great as the evening sunset, and the four mages had all been silent for quite a while. Hayato and Sting were simply observing the situation, watching Clair still be incapable of delivering that final punch to Lucy's body, and Lucy still had her arms stretched out to protect her awesome boyfriend. This scene highly intrigued Hayato, as he decided to look at it with some deep thoughts, and the butler had a stern facial expression while he needed to know something.

In fact, this information that Hayato wanted would need to come from Lucy's mouth. His blue eyes shifted to Clair, and Hayato merely shook his head in a disapproving manner. He wasn't exactly upset with Clair's level of strength, as she was truly powerful, but the naivety of the princess really made her be different from a wizard who obviously had a reason to maintain her perseverance. Hayato wouldn't even care if Clair became prideful about his decision to end the fight, as letting an opponent go freely wasn't always a sign of admitting defeat, and he could see her looking quite frustrated at how Lucy's fierce eyes contained tons of strength.

 _"My hand stopped again. Why? Why am I so frightened of her eyes, especially when this girl can't even fight me anymore?"_ Clair thought to herself as she stood a few feet away from Lucy, feeling like fear was overtaking her right fist.

Hayato asked Lucy in a stern tone while he walked towards Clair, needing himself and the princess to hear the mage's response, "Your name is Lucy Heartfilia? May I ask one thing? What kind of mage are you striving to become?"

Lucy replied in a calm manner while glaring at Hayato, hoping that he wouldn't hurt her, "I'm aiming to become a good mage who is clever and powerful, and I want to prevent great tragedies from occurring. I don't want to see my friends die."

Hayato simply chuckled in a pleased manner, satisfied with that answer, but he also brought up how Clair informed him that Lucy was wanting to get her fifth Rainbow Crystal. Anyone taking part in the ancient challenge would have to deal with a difficult road of battles to get the crystals, and Lucy probably wasn't strong enough to obtain it. Lucy countered his statement by sternly saying that a mage who held true to her kind ambition was the only type of mage that she could be, and her desire to succeed would never waver in the face of adversity. That made Hayato smile a bit, and he calmly ended the fight.

That caused Clair to turn around and face him while looking upset about that, not wanting to lose, but Hayato simply countered her prideful attitude with a simple question. He asked the blue-haired woman about what her goals were as a mage, prompting Clair to clench her teeth while angrily looking at him, and the fact that she wasn't able to answer the question merely caused Hayato to finally feel ready to tell Clair what she needed to hear. In fact, these words were pretty important for any mage that just had an obsession with fighting.

Hayato narrowed his eyes as he sternly explained to Clair that she only cared about defeating the enemies in front of her, having the ideals of a hoodlum, and she wouldn't be able to defeat someone like Lucy because her fierce eyes had true aspirations behind them. That prompted Clair to cancel her seventh spell, making the drills of water disappear from being around her fist, and she angrily punched the ground while not wanting Hayato to be ridiculous. She openly asked him if he expected her to admit defeat to this girl, but that only made the butler repeat the question that he asked Lucy.

Clair's teeth became clenched again while she also clenched her fists, thinking about the question for a moment, and the intimidating princess fiercely told Hayato that she would be a strong mage. She'd be the tough princess who could silence anyone that opposed her with one or two spells of her Water Magic, and Clair even stated that her strength could help her become the strongest of all the water-wielding mages. Hayato closed his eyes as he smiled softly at her words, deeming her to be better than an ignorant hooligan, and Clair turned her attention back to Lucy.

"All right, Lucy! Listen up! Sting, you better listen to me as well! This fight may have been vicious, but I'll let you two go. Also, Lucy, we'll have a battle someday that decides who has the stronger conviction to their goal. Until that day comes, be quite glad that I was merciful to you." Clair stated sternly to the two mages, before her blue eyes mainly focused on Lucy.

Hayato thought to himself as he continued to smile while Clair began walking off towards the forest, _"It seems that Clair finally obtained what she wanted, and she can work towards that goal."_

The man with blue hair and blue eyes calmly stated to Lucy and Sting as he walked over to their side, seeing how both of the mages looked quite upset about how they didn't win, "Lucy and Sting, I give you my gratitude for helping Clair become more mature and not think like an ignorant child. Thanks to you, I can respect her and she'll go much further in life. However, don't forget that I could've helped her kill you at any time. If you had been able to inhale the icy wind to increase the power of your Wind Magic, Lucy, then you could've possibly won."

Hayato proceeded to walk away from them while he'd follow Clair into the snowy forest, actually satisfied with the outcome, but he took a glance back at Lucy to see tears of disappointment fall from her eyes as her arms lowered to her sides. Lucy's shoulders shuddered while Sting clenched his fists in frustration, feeling quite devastated that their cleverness wasn't enough while they were on the verge of being killed, and Lucy wasn't exactly confident right now. In fact, seeing Clair endure all of her spells like that made Lucy feel quite saddened. Even though the battle technically ended in a draw with no winner, Lucy wished that she did win.

* * *

 **10 minutes later, in the snowy forest...**

After Clair and Hayato watched Kira run into the icy tundra to check on her friends, the duo proceeded to walk through the snow while they needed to get back to Eisetsu Town. The blue-haired princess hoped that her snowy town didn't experience an avalanche from all the fighting that was caused in the icy tundra, not wanting the Winter Snowflake guild to gripe at her for getting quite serious against an opponent, and Clair also felt like she wanted to go take a relaxing bath in the private hot spring that was in her large house.

Hayato walked beside Clair while he could see her lips form a calm smile, seeing her look happy, and Clair hadn't smiled with satisfaction in quite a long time. The man who wielded Ice Magic was glad that he'd get to serve a princess who would no longer be quite ignorant, and he would also feel quite glad about the fact that those three days in Shioru Town did not end up going to waste. Finding a suitable opponent for Clair was no easy task, but a hard task clearly had to come with a hard fight that actually could've gone either way. As Hayato kept looking at Clair, though, she turned to him and began to look curious.

"Tell me, Hayato. In order to become the most skilled wielder of Water Magic, what must I do differently and what are the things I must learn to understand?" Clair asked her butler in a calm tone, seeming unsure about what she needed to contemplate.

He responded in a kind tone with a nice smile on his face, "Princess Clair, you'll have to learn many things. There are strategies and spells that you'll have to learn, but you'll even have to learn about certain qualities that will greatly help you in life."

Clair replied with an ambitious smile on her face, her blue eyes filled with satisfaction, "I'll definitely contemplate those things, and I'll work hard! It seems that the occupation of being a mage has gotten very interesting, Hayato!"

As she continued to walk off towards the town with ambition making its way into her heart, Clair didn't really mind the fact that Hayato stopped for a moment. He glanced up at the orange evening sky while thinking about today's battle, never having seen anything like it, and Hayato chuckled a bit from how his job as Clair's butler would start to get better. He'd actually feel like the task could be enjoyable again, even though he was like a stern authority figure to Clair while she was disobedient to him sometimes, and he only had two people to thank for this.

Showing gratitude to Lucy and Sting would probably be a tough task, as they most likely wouldn't want any money as compensation for the injuries that they sustained in the vicious fight, but Hayato would find some way to thank them. He was still feeling some pain from how Sting repeatedly punched him in the face, but Hayato hoped that the dragon slayer's feet would be okay. After all, getting frostbite from Ice Magic was not really cool. Even though Clair had just as much durability as he did, Hayato was quite impressed with their opponents.

Every spell that Lucy used was quite interesting, especially when she used the icy air to increase the power of the spell known as Windy Coolness, but even she was able to realize that strategy wasn't enough to win without enough strength to truly be fearsome. She might have had to come to that realization through what was felt like a saddening loss, ending her streak of officially winning fights, but Hayato felt like she would grow stronger from this experience. There was nothing shameful about having a draw or a loss against a strong opponent, and Hayato would still think that way if Clair had ended up losing to Lucy.

He looked back at the snow behind him, thinking about how Lucy and Sting were still in the icy tundra, and the way Lucy protected her ally tied in with something that Hayato always remembered. When a person wanted to protect something that was precious to them, they would become strong. Lucy was strong enough to withstand Clair's attacks, standing like glacial ice that refused to fall apart, and Hayato respected her for that. He even smiled at how Sting wanted to protect Lucy, striking Hayato and Clair with some strong moves that certainly hurt, but even those two strong opponents would need to learn from what they felt was a bitter taste of defeat.

 _"I really owe you my thanks, Lucy Heartfilia. I thank you as well, Sting. The fight was vicious, but it was an excellent battle. You two must grow and mature even more as mages, though. Just like how I looked forward to the fishing event in the recent Fiore Winter Games, I look forward to the next time that we fight you two."_ Hayato thought to himself with a calm facial expression, before deciding to walk somewhat fast through the snow and catch up with the princess who felt happy that her partner truly helped her obtain a great victory.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 19? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Cheering Up**

* * *

Sting woke up to find himself on a pink couch, seeing that a warm white blanket was over his body, and he looked down at his shoes that were on the floor. They were no longer encased in the Ice Magic that Hayato infused into the ground, almost like a certain merchant with red hair used a spell of Fire Magic to burn through the ice, and Sting was able to move his legs without them feeling numb. His blue eyes glanced at different parts of this wooden place to see that it was a small inn, and looking through a small window to see snow fall made Sting clearly understand that the team was now in Eisetsu Town.

Kira and Lucy actually sat on the left and right sides of Sting while they had woken up before him, and Kira had actually carried Sting on her back when she found him shivering quite badly in the icy tundra. Lucy was able to walk alongside Kira and get out of that icy tundra, but even getting to walk through the lovely snow-covered forest hadn't really been appealing to the Celestial Spirit Wizard. Kira got up from the couch to see that Lucy looked quite bummed about her loss against Clair, before seeing Sting clench his fists in possible frustration about yesterday's events, and the only good thing about yesterday for the trio was that Kira only had to pay 5,000 jewels to the inn's owner for them to stay overnight.

Sting felt upset about not doing very well against Hayato, as that blue-haired butler was quite an interesting opponent, but the person who felt the most disappointed about this situation was Lucy. She woke up a few hours before Sting to just silently think about the situation, hating how her spells were endured by Clair while that aggressive princess overwhelmed her in their battle, and Lucy was ashamed about the fact that she and Sting were spared from getting killed. After all, she had heard Hayato's words about how he could've helped Clair kill them at any moment in that fight. They were really lucky to be alive, but that luck couldn't prevent them from feeling like it was a crushing defeat.

Lucy got up from the couch and raised her arms high above her head, only to wince in pain from how her body was hurt from the fight, and she still wore the same clothes from yesterday. Buying a winter jacket in Eisetsu Town would be pretty good for her to do, but that wasn't her main focus right now. Lucy just wanted some time to think about this loss, and she picked up the mint green spell book that was on the brown round table. She proceeded to walk towards the wooden front door while not really saying much to Sting or Kira, the silence only being broken by how Lucy's feet touched the creaking wooden floor, but Sting wouldn't let her just leave without a word.

"Where are you going, Lucy? It's pretty cold outside." Sting asked and told her in a concerned manner while he could also see the harsh bruises that she got from the fight.

Lucy replied as she softly smiled at Sting, wanting to bring some calmness to the situation, "I'm just going out for a walk in the snowy forest. Maybe I'll make a snowman while I'm out there, Sting."

Kira added as she looked worried about the blonde-haired girl, having noticed that Lucy's body was still somewhat shaky from her injuries, "Hold on, Lucy. At least let me use one of my new spells on you. Clair may have beaten you down like a harsh tsunami, but you need to recover with some nice heat."

The red-haired merchant used a move known as Blazing Flame's Healing, and this spell made Kira shoot out a beam of red flames from her mouth. Sting got out of the way quickly as the spell went straight into Lucy's mouth, making her experience its intense heat, and Lucy wasted no time with exhaling Kira's hot flames. They were exhaled in the form of a large heat wave, warming up the cabin that had no heater or fireplace, and the heat in Lucy's mouth went down into her throat. The heat wave and the heat itself were side effects of Kira's spell, and the true effect of this move made the heat in Lucy's body heal her.

Sting watched steam come out of Lucy's wounds that had been scabbed over while her other bruises also had steam emerge from them, and the intense heat of Kira's spell flared to a high level that effaced all of the damage that was done to Lucy's body. Her magical power would need time to get restored, however, and her confidence would need to be restored as well. Lucy could move around without feeling any physical pain, but that was only partial relief. Would Lucy continue to be depressed about her harsh defeat at the hands of the mighty Clair?

Lucy pulled the door handle inward to open the door, letting in some cold wind for a moment, and she walked out of the wooden cabin. As Lucy left, Sting only frowned while he could understand what was going on. Lucy was pretty bummed about her fatal loss against Clair, but she was smiling while trying to not let the blues of disappointment in herself be shown on her face. Lucy was trying to stay strong for her friends, as they wouldn't want her to see her cry about being defeated, and Sting could see why she felt so bad about it.

He helped Lucy build up her confidence before that fight, and they even shared a high-five of assurance. Lucy didn't plan on losing that battle against Clair, fighting with all seven spells of Wind Magic at her disposal, and every strategy that Lucy used in that battle was confidently made by her. Getting mercy from Clair and Hayato was harsh, but seeing Clair walk away with a small smile of victory on her face had made Lucy's confidence shatter like ice that had been aggressively stepped on. Still, trying to hide her feelings wouldn't make the situation get happier.

"Excuse me, please. If it's not too much trouble, can you two do me a little favor?" The black-haired owner of the inn said and asked Sting in a polite manner, as she stood behind the desk to put on her pink skiing hat that matched her pink coat and black snow boots.

Sting asked the owner in a calm manner, "What do you need us to do?"

"Earlier this morning, I saw someone from the Winter Snowflake guild gripe outside about how they dropped something in Lake Eichi and can't fish it out. If you're not busy, could you get it from that lake near the town?" The owner kindly asked and explained while her light blue eyes twinkled, as she looked to be around Lucy's age.

Since Sting had nothing better to do, he simply grinned at the girl while choosing to handle this task. It would also give him an opportunity to see if Lucy was okay, since he was worried that she might catch a cold in this icy weather, and Sting also had to wonder how a mage in this town that specialized in winter events wouldn't be able to fish something out of the lake. If the water wasn't deep enough, then the item would surely float up to the lake's surface. The water did seem deep, though, but Sting didn't care. He proceeded to leave the cabin quite quickly, and that left Kira alone with the owner.

The merchant with hazel eyes simply watched the owner open one of the desk's drawers, before happily talking to herself about the snowflakes outside, and Kira hoped that Sting would be alright. She felt like an icy lake was a horrible place to drop something, due to the water's cold temperature, but it wasn't like Kira would go there to make the lake's water be boiling hot. That would probably damage the fish that lived in the lake, and Kira certainly wouldn't want to do that. Lucy was her friend, though, so Kira simply smiled while running out of the inn to find her.

* * *

 **Five minutes later, at the town's bar...**

Minerva smiled proudly to herself while seeing her reflection in ten glasses that she recently cleaned, pretty glad to see them shine, and this was actually her last day as Eisetsu Town's barmaid. The owner of the bar would stop by later to pay her 80,000 jewels for handling the job, and Minerva would possibly get a sweet bonus for not letting any fights ever occur. She stood behind the counter with a large blue cup of hot cocoa that she made for herself, hoping that she'd get more tips than she did yesterday, and the woman with emerald green eyes simply looked out at the street as she awaited the arrival of customers.

As Minerva was about to drink her sweet cup of hot chocolate, she saw Sting quickly run past the bar with a confident grin on his face. Minerva thought that the light dragon slayer had come here to handle a job, but hearing the panting of Kira Blazia had made Minerva widen her eyes for a moment. Why in the world would Sting want to bring that quirky merchant here, especially when she once spilled a bottle of maple syrup over Minerva's favorite blue dress? Minerva watched Kira stop in front of the bar while she panted from running so quickly, clearly not being fast enough to follow Sting straight to the lake without stopping, and that got the black-haired woman's attention.

"Why are you making Sting run from you, klutzy Kira?" Minerva loudly asked the red-haired girl in a rude tone while smirking, thinking that he wanted to get away from her.

Kira explained in a calm tone of voice while happily smiling, as she watched Minerva take large sips of her hot cocoa, "Sting's not running from me, but I think all your customers ran from you. He's actually going to handle a little task, and check on Lucy Heartfilia. She's a Sabertooth mage now, and she's also his girlfriend."

The hazel-eyed merchant's last sentence nearly made Minerva Orlando choke on her hot chocolate, pretty shocked at what she was hearing, and Minerva narrowed her eyes. She hadn't been at the guild in quite a while, leaving her out of the loop involving everything that had been happening, and Minerva actually slammed her left fist down on the counter while thinking that this was impossible. The blonde-haired girl who she viciously tortured in the Naval Battle was now a member of Sabertooth, and Sting was dating her?

Minerva sternly asked Kira about how Lucy could be strong enough to join Sabertooth, prompting the quirky girl to inform the black-haired woman about how Lucy won four tough fights in a row, and Minerva was quite surprised to hear that four Rainbow Crystals were now in Lucy's possession. Kira went on to say that Lucy even beat the captain of an event in Kazehana Town, and she even managed to take down some criminals on Emblaze Island as well. Kira felt like Minerva was wasting her time, especially with how she wanted to hold in some laughter, and Minerva didn't exactly have a good perception of Lucy.

Minerva could only recall Lucy being the girl who was useless without her Celestial Spirit Keys, the girl who easily got her butt kicked very hard in the Naval Battle, but Kira made her fellow Sabertooth mage cease smirking. In fact, she brought up how Lucy had a book of spells that she bought after they first met. Minerva was pretty shocked to hear that, and Kira continued the conversation by saying that Minerva couldn't have possibly beaten Akina or Takuya. That was actually true, since those two mages made those respective fights get crazy with their spells.

Kira proceeded to walk away from the bar while she needed to catch up with Sting, hoping that Lucy wouldn't be crying about her loss, but she did want to give Minerva one nice piece of information. In fact, this recent news about Lucy would probably surprise someone as strong as Minerva. It was one thing for her to be telling customers that Princess Clair wasn't very strong, but actually seeing the blasts and the powerful maelstrom were certainly making Kira be allowed to give Minerva some shocking news. In fact, she'd probably spit out the rest of the hot chocolate that she was gulping down.

"By the way, Clair challenged Lucy to a fight yesterday. It was pretty ferocious, but I think it ended in a draw." Kira told Minerva with a grin on her face, before running off to find Sting.

Minerva thought to herself in a startled manner, having heard about Clair's strength from customers, _"That little Lucy fought against Clair, and seriously managed to survive? They even fought to a draw?"_

Minerva actually wanted to run out of the bar and follow Kira, but the unfortunate timing of some female snowboarders entering the bar with their boards had stopped her from doing that. She simply sighed in annoyance at the sight of the snowboarders happily talking about how they managed to master some 130-degree turns on the mountain trails, and fighting while snowboarding was good practice for the Fiore Winter Games. Minerva saw them come up to the bar with happy smiles on their faces, ready to order some food, and she simply feigned a nice smile.

The fact that Lucy was in Sabertooth had certainly irked her, as they weren't exactly on good terms, and having to see her around in the guild would just make Minerva hope that her own spot for the Grand Magic Games would not be taken away. It wasn't like Minerva didn't regret her actions in the last tournament, since her cruel and unnecessary behavior towards Lucy and other participants was what caused Erza to fight her with a high amount of rage, and the woman with green eyes would not play dirty again. After all, why repeat fatal mistakes?

Having a good team in the Grand Magic Games was the truest key to winning, but there was also the fact that a wizard would be able to defeat an opponent with strong feelings infused with the power of their strong moves. That was how Natsu defeated Sting and Rogue by himself in the tag-team battle, even using a powerful move that defeated their Unison Raid, but it was now quite interesting to have someone from Fairy Tail become a member of Sabertooth. Something told Minerva that it could be a good thing, but she needed to be sure.

Trying to bother Lucy with giving out info on her former teammates wouldn't help Minerva develop a friendship with her, but she did think about how she didn't get to see Lucy's fight against the powerful Clair. If that battle had been as intense as Kira made it sound, then it would be good to have Lucy on the team. Not only would she probably be useful for getting Sabertooth some precious points, but she'd be able to beat down those fairies. The Grand Magic Games were still not coming up soon, though, and Minerva needed to feed the snowboarders who took turns with ringing the gold bell on the counter in a funny rhythm to get her attention.

* * *

 **40 minutes later, near the icy lake...**

Lucy had been walking around in the forest for a while now, simply thinking about what happened yesterday, and she walked to the icy lake that was surrounded by rows of trees. Her brown boots made footprints in the snow while she recalled how getting defeated by Clair was such an irksome thing, and Lucy clenched her left fist in frustration. She knelt down to the snowy ground for a moment, before sending her hardest punch into it, and Lucy actually felt a mix of emotions right now. How could she not, considering that it was her first failure in the ancient challenge?

The blonde-haired girl was miffed about the fact that her spells were either evenly matched or torn through by Clair's own spells, and she also felt frustration at how she couldn't have brute strength like that frosty princess. Working with Earth Magic may have increased the overall amount of strength in Lucy's arms and legs, but not enough to the point where a normal punch without any magical enhancement could've knocked Clair out. The two women seemed evenly matched at the beginning of their fight in the ice cave, but Lucy felt like Clair's harsh punch to her stomach was a bad sign.

Lucy really saw it as a gut-punch feeling that seemed like Clair dealt a powerful blow to her confidence, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard actually felt intimidated by the cold glare of frostiness that Clair gave her. Getting kneed in the chest and hit by a powerful vortex of dense water were two things that also weren't good, and Lucy had to shield Sting from a powerful drill of scalding hot water. She was even belittled by Clair, who told her that being smart with spells wasn't the same as having raw strength to increase their power, and Lucy placed her hands on her legs while the frustration began to turn into feelings of sadness. Thinking about the harsh loss and how she couldn't protect Sting from getting hurt had made Lucy feel like she wanted to scream, but her emotions found another way to come out.

Tears fell from her cocoa brown eyes while she began to cry, her body trembling as she thought about how Clair endured all seven of her spells, and there was more to this than just a loss. Using each spell of Wind Magic had been like trying out different strategies, but all of Lucy's plans failed to bring Clair down. Even Sting's combo of White Dragon's Holy Breath with White Dragon's Revenge couldn't keep Clair from standing like a warrior. How in the world could Lucy go from being so very smart in her battle against Takuya to seeing her intelligent plans with Wind Magic meet watery demises at the hands of Clair?

"Clair and her butler were so strong, and they seriously could've killed us! Just like with the Naval Battle last year, I was so confident and the enemy beat me down with harsh spells and brute strength! Clair drilled the pain of her strong spells into me, and she endured all my attacks! If getting the other Rainbow Crystals will be this incredibly tough, then maybe I should just quit and-" Lucy shouted to herself in a saddened manner while crying, slamming her right fist on the mint green book that was beside her.

"That's funny. The Lucy who I love wouldn't give up on a challenge like this, no matter what came her way, and I honestly think she can reflect on her latest battle many times to learn from it. She learned tons of stuff in that fight against Clair, and experiencing failure can help her grow as a person." Sting told her in a calm tone of voice, as he came out from behind a tree.

Lucy replied in a somewhat shocked manner, as she turned around and heard his words, "Sting..."

Sting remembered how Lector stood up for him against Jiemma, saying that a loss could help someone become stronger, and he was going to help Lucy understand that a feeling of defeat wasn't entirely bad. It merely showed her that there were some things she needed to work on, and correcting those mistakes would help her improve. Sting was pretty bummed about the loss, too, but seeing Lucy try to put on a soft face of happiness at the inn earlier caused him to look at the situation from a different angle. In fact, failure is what inspired people to get redemption and there was no point in just crying about it.

Sting walked towards Lucy while hearing her tell him that every spell and strategy against Clair wasn't enough for them to win the battle, and that only caused the light dragon slayer to ask Lucy if she would've cared about her chances of winning the fights against Takuya or Akina. They may not have had Clair's cruel strength, but they certainly fought against Lucy with the best spells in their arsenals. Lucy's strategies against Akina were mostly gambles, but she didn't care. Even if a spell got dodged by that insane priestess, didn't Lucy take a few moments to learn about her enemy?

Lucy began to smile a bit from hearing Sting tell her that it wasn't shameful to need more physical power for spells, and enhancing her punches or kicks with magic could greatly increase her overall strength. She hadn't exactly done that in quite a while, though, and that could be a reason why she lost to Clair. Lucy frowned a bit as she began to think about her newest spells, and they were mostly new without the power of any real inspiration. It was good to use new spells, but the best wizards wouldn't exactly put aside what they learned from previous battles.

Lucy started to stand up while wiping away from the stickiness of her tears from her face, and she happily hugged Sting for giving her some encouragement. It inspired her to realize that Clair's techniques were probably derived from other moves, as Sunahama from the Haina Desert once created a drill out of Earth Magic, and Lucy could derive moves from what she learned for the sake of combining them with her own moves. Of course, they wouldn't be official spells that would be written in the book. She could make those combos be her own techniques, and Lucy would want Sting to help her.

"Sting, let's go work on some new moves." Lucy nicely told him while smiling, before proceeding to walk away.

The blue-eyed male explained in a somewhat disappointed tone, since he wasn't just here to check on her, "Sorry, Lucy, but I can't do that right now. The innkeeper told me that someone dropped something in the lake, and I have to put my hands in the freezing cold water."

Sting looked out at the circular lake, seeing some snowflakes fall down into the blue water, and he took some steps towards the lake to see what he'd be dealing with. Lucy watched her boyfriend put his left hand into the blue water, only to hurriedly take it out because of the freezing cold temperature, and Sting's hand felt numb from that chilling sensation. This would certainly be a hard task to handle, and it wasn't like he could just get a bucket to start dumping out the lake's water. Not only would that be rude to all the fish in the lake, but it would possibly take hours to lower the lake's water level.

Lucy watched Sting look down at the water to see if he could spot anything in the lake, hoping for this dropped item to give off a glimmer that would inform him about where it was, and this also seemed to be a troubling dilemma. How could they get the item out of the lake without a decent fishing rod, and would even having a fishing rod allow them to reel in something that wouldn't be a fish? Lucy put the index finger of her hand up to her lips while she began to think, and Kira stood behind a tree while watching Sting continue to look out at the water. These three mages certainly got into interesting situations, did they not?

* * *

 **15 minutes later...**

After doing some thinking, an idea formed in Lucy's mind while she began to gladly smile. If the item was dropped in the water, then couldn't a Celestial Spirit who wielded Water Magic be able to get it? That certainly seemed like a good plan, and Lucy pulled out the key of Aquarius from the right pocket of her pink ski pants. She proceeded to open the Gate of The Water Bearer, summoning the blue-haired Celestial Spirit in the center of the lake, and Lucy felt it would now be easy work to get the item that someone clumsily dropped into the lake.

Aquarius was instructed by Lucy to see if she could find an item at the bottom of the lake, only for the Celestial Spirit to growl in an irritated manner, and Sting looked quite shocked at what happened next. Aquarius gathered up lots of water into her urn while asking Lucy about why she was summoned in these extremely cold waters, ready to strike her with a cyclone of water for doing this, and the water level in the lake began to slightly lower. The water went up to the urn in the form of a spiraling twister, spinning around anything that got caught in its path, and something made Aquarius widen her blue eyes in amazement.

"Could this be what was dropped? Is the thing you want, Lucy?" Aquarius asked her with a stern facial expression, as a certain object floated up from the bottom of the urn to be on the water's surface.

Lucy asked curiously while wondering what the Celestial Spirit found, "What is it?"

Aquarius gently grabbed the object with her right hand, liking how it was a rhombus-shaped blue crystal that was in a natural shade of blue, and she threw the object at Lucy. The crystal hit Lucy's left hand somewhat harshly while it felt cold like the lake's water, and the blonde-haired girl down at it for a moment. Lucy gasped in amazement at the sight of another Rainbow Crystal, this one being known as the Cerulean Crystal, and this was an amazing discovery. Still, was this the item that someone dropped into the lake?

If it was the item that belonged to someone, then returning it to them would be the right thing for Lucy and Sting to do. After all, it wasn't their item to keep. Lucy seemed a bit disappointed about that, but she soon seemed surprised at how Aquarius fired that spiraling beam of water at her! Lucy screamed while closing her eyes, holding up the Cerulean Crystal as a little way to deflect the water, and Lucy opened her eyes to see the crystal suddenly become light blue from absorbing all of that cold water. It quickly returned to its normal hue of blue, however, and Aquarius went back to the Celestial Spirit World.

Now that Sting was done with the task that had to be handled, he grinned at Lucy while wanting to get some delicious breakfast from the inn on this cold morning. He was also pretty pleased that they found another Rainbow Crystal, and Sting actually didn't want Lucy to give it up. The Sabertooth guild received lots of money from how everyone handled jobs, and a trade of some kind could surely be in order. After all, it wouldn't be hard for Sting and his friends to come up with at least 500,000 jewels as a decent offer for the crystal.

As Lucy started to follow Sting back to the town of Eisetsu, the duo was stopped by the sight of the black-haired innkeeper walking towards them. She gave Sting a cheerful look while feeling glad that he was still here, since most travelers who came to the town of Eisetsu wouldn't try to fish for anything in the cold lake, and the girl giggled softly while she actually had some good news for Sting. In fact, he and Lucy would mostly be surprised to hear this interesting information. Kira came out from behind the nearby tree to join her friends while smiling, and she also wanted to hear what would be said.

"Hello, travelers. I told that mage from Winter Snowflake about how you went out to find the item he dropped, and he said that you can keep it for yourselves. Also, we had a little chat and he's going to teach some of his fellow mages how to be experts at fishing." The innkeeper nicely told Sting's group while smiling, before kindly glancing at the Cerulean Crystal that was in Lucy's left hand.

Kira asked the innkeeper in a kind manner as she also felt hungry, looking somewhat embarrassed about it, "If it's not too much trouble, can you give us some food or show us to one of Eisetsu Town's best restaurants?"

The innkeeper nodded nicely at the question before walking off, and Kira gladly clapped her hands at the fact that she'd get some food. Sting confidently claimed that he was in the mood to eat ten pancakes from a bar that he passed while running towards the snowy forest, and that only made Kira put her hands in the snow for the sake of forming a snowball. She playfully threw it at Sting, only to have the innkeeper turn around to nicely throw one at her face, and throwing snowballs was actually a nice way of having fun in Eisetsu Town.

Lucy giggled at the sight of this while she put the Cerulean Crystal into the left pocket of her ski pants, and she put the book down for the sake of throwing a snowball back at the black-haired girl. Sting ended up throwing a snowball at Lucy, and the innkeeper watched the three mages from Sabertooth all start to giggle at how this was quite amusing. Lucy felt quite warmed up from Sting's words in this chilly weather, her sadness starting to melt like snow in the warm parts of springtime, and she didn't even mind the fact that Hayato watched the entire situation from the entrance to Eisetsu Town. He simply walked away with a soft smile on his face, glad to see that Lucy managed to get what he "clumsily" dropped, and Hayato was pretty pleased that the trio stayed in town overnight for him to think about how to thank them.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 20? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Chilling in Eisetsu Town**

* * *

Lucy and Kira were now in the clothing store of Eisetsu Town, liking how the shop had light blue walls with dark blue carpeting to match, and the two girls were planning on buying some new clothes. Lucy felt like she would need a new winter jacket, since her pink one got torn to shreds, but she was also curious about some other clothes that were in this store. Even though it snowed outside while the mages of Winter Snowflake would dress warm to practice their abilities for winter sports, why were there some clothes that didn't suit the cold weather at all?

There were some schoolgirl skirts and tutus in neon shades of colors, but the weirdest thing was the fact that this store was selling black platform shoes. Those weren't exactly the best footwear for skiing or snowboarding, as snow boots were the wisest choice for anyone who was learning to ski, and it didn't seem like anyone was very interested in buying those articles of clothing. There were even top hats that appeared to be in different colors, some of those hats even having large logos of dark guilds on them, and this was very interesting to Lucy.

The blue price tags on the hats informed Lucy that they cost 60,000 jewels, and that made her cocoa brown eyes widen in amazement. The neon-colored tutus were priced at 80,000 jewels, and the schoolgirl plaid skirts were priced at 70,000 jewels. Everything else in the store was cheaper than these items, though. Kira watched Lucy think about if she wanted to buy any of these items, even seeing blue glow sticks on a shelf, and the merchant with red hair felt like she'd also buy something from this store. After all, the red winter hats looked pretty cute while they'd keep snow from getting in Kira's hair.

Lucy walked over to the store owner who appeared to be a woman with short blonde hair and violet eyes, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard took notice of how this woman wore a black ski jumpsuit with black ski pants to match while she also wore black snow boots. It would be kind of weird to ask an owner of a store about why they were selling clothes that really had no relevance whatsoever to the frosty winter, but one question wouldn't be anything troubling. In fact, Lucy and Kira might like the answer that would be given. Would it be quite interesting?

"Excuse me, but why are you selling those items? Aren't tutus bad to wear in the wintertime?" Lucy asked the shop owner in a calm tone while kindly smiling.

The shop owner explained in a somewhat annoyed manner, "Tutus are bad to wear in this snowy town with cold weather, but the famous fashion designer known as Samantha Kalos is requiring all clothing stores in Fiore to advertise the attire of a certain town for one week as a promotion of some sort."

Kira asked the shop owner in a calm manner, knowing that Rainbow Crystals were still a factor in purchases, "What's the requirement for purchasing any of those items?"

Lucy and Kira were unfortunately informed by the shopkeeper that the promotional items could only be purchased by wizards who showed six Rainbow Crystals to her, making Lucy feel a bit bummed that she only had five, but winter scarves and ski jumpsuits could be purchased by her because five crystals only needed to be shown to the shopkeeper for her to be permitted to buy those things. Deciding that she wouldn't want Kira to waste her money on anything that didn't seem to be needed right now, Lucy headed for the shop's front door while Kira followed her.

The two girls walked out of the shop to feel the chill in the air, Lucy really disliking how a passing breeze made her feel very cold, and Kira created a red flame in her left hand while putting that hand near Lucy's right arm to make her feel the heat of her Fire Magic. Kira and Lucy walked beside each other while they were headed back to inn, after spending three hours running around the small town for things that they could buy, but it was a shame that nothing also seemed appealing to them. They wouldn't even buy desserts that were being sold at a popular bakery, since the innkeeper guided them to a nice restaurant where Princess Clair would get her morning breakfast.

Lucy hoped that Sting wouldn't be too annoyed at them for taking so long with shopping, as he stayed behind at the inn to act as a receptionist when the black-haired girl left two hours earlier to handle something, but the light dragon slayer probably wouldn't mind that Lucy would be walking around the town of Eisetsu with Kira. In fact, he wouldn't share their excitement in seeing that an old-fashioned Japanese mansion was where the powerful princess lived with her father and her butler. Lucy wouldn't go into the palace, however, since she didn't wish to see Clair again soon.

Entry into the palace was only allowed to the princess, the butler, the mayor, and anyone who they would be guiding around the palace. Getting a tour did cost a hefty amount of money, but it always managed to bring in some great profits to the town of Eisetsu. After all, there were tourists who would simply want to take a tour for the sake of taking a photo with Clair. Pictures with her could sell for quite a lot of money, as she was quite a strong mage who had a fearsome reputation, so the tourists would just try using the tours to their personal advantage.

"Let's not make Sting wait, Kira. After we leave this town, then we can all focus on getting stronger for the Grand Magic Games. Hopefully, this year's tournament won't have anything like the Eclipse Project involved in it." Lucy explained to her friend while smiling softly, before running off to the inn.

Kira replied with a happy look on her face, before giggling, "I just hope that you don't lose any battles like how you did last year, Lucy. After all, there were millions of people watching the Grand Magic Games. It must've been upsetting to know that all those people in the stands called you a loser on the first day, so don't get yourself get humiliated."

Lucy seemed comically irked by how Kira brought up her loss against Flare Corona last year, as that battle actually had a big page in the newspapers for being the wildest battle on the tournament's first day, and Lucy hadn't exactly forgotten that loss. She still wondered how Flare canceled out the Urano Metria spell without even using a single spell of magic to defend herself from it, and Lucy could only hope that her past failures would not come back to haunt her. Well, at least Raven Tail's disqualification in the last tournament would keep them from competing this year.

As the girls walked towards the inn, Lucy's brown eyes glanced at the palace for a moment. She looked at Clair's home with a determined facial expression, feeling the utmost determination to become stronger than that blue-haired woman, and their fight made Lucy truly realize something. If she didn't become stronger than Clair or be powerful enough to defeat whoever was involved with the next Rainbow Crystal, then she wouldn't be able to save her teammates in deadly situations. Lucy gently clenched her fists as she walked to the inn with Kira, wanting to make her new magic roar like a raging sea, but would Lucy's magic become as strong as what her old friends had to experience?

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Natsu and Erza sat down at a table with Gray and Lisanna, all of the mages pretty happy that they recently finished defeating some bandits that were causing some trouble in the nearby town of Hargeon, and the four wizards simply looked at the bag of money that was on the table. It would be split evenly between them, keeping things fair, but Erza felt like saying that she did the most work by defeating nine of the bandits with ease. The other two managed to get away from Gray and Lisanna, but Natsu burnt them to a crisp with his Fire Dragon's Roar.

Erza wouldn't care if Lisanna would say something about her bragging, as it was true, and the two females still had tension between them. Natsu remembered how the team got a strawberry cake as a reward yesterday, really liking how it was so large and sweet, but the mighty Erza Scarlet did not get the utmost satisfaction of getting to eat the final piece of the cake. Lisanna ate it before she could grab it, which made Gray and Natsu quite terrified. but what happened afterwards was very surprising. Erza had said nothing about it, and that was strange.

The two women were still disagreeing about what happened in the snowy forest near Eisetsu Town, Lisanna still thinking that Erza was reckless for trying to stop an aggressive woman from doing what she felt was right, and Erza had wanted to let a weak bandit just get tied up because the job of capturing outlaws was different than an assassination that involved their deaths. Erza and Lisanna still disagreed over that, making the team still feel some tension, and Natsu sighed while hoping that it would someday end.

As Erza was about to open the bag of money, however, Fairy Tail's entrance doors were opened by a breeze of wind. Team Natsu and the other guild members saw Lyon Vastia and Takuya Kūchū from the Lamia Scale guild standing in the doorway, noticing how Takuya wore a green sweater vest with dark green jeans to match, and Gray wondered why his rival would show up here. If Lyon was only here to brag about Lamia Scale planning to obtain victory in the Grand Magic Games, then he would have no interest in dealing with that man's arrogance.

"It's quite a shame that we have to intrude into Fairy Tail, but Lamia Scale needs some flyers. This guy and his friend Hizuki have been cleaning us out every day, and they take most of the money." Lyon explained to the Fairy Tail mages in an annoyed manner, before tuning to Gray and giving him a smirk of confidence.

Takuya replied while looking psyched about taking more jobs with Hizuki, "We'll be taking down more outlaws soon! Don't be mad at the fact that I beat you in a fight, icy dude. I had an epic fight once, and it ended in a draw."

The two men walked into the guild while Takuya held his green skateboard in his left hand, the guy wit violet eyes giving some flirty grins to the beautiful girls who were in this guild, and Takuya felt like it would be fun to take some S-Class jobs from the request board. He was not an S-Class wizard in the guild of Lamia Scale, however, and Lyon would not allow him to do that. After all, he wouldn't want their guild master to use her magic on them to make them spin around for ten minutes. That experience would surely make them dizzy, would it not?

As Takuya was walking past Team Natsu's table, however, he suddenly remembered the day that he met Lucy. When he was in the woods with Hizuki, prior to that epic battle of wind versus lightning, the girl with jungle green hair informed him about how a newspaper article told her that Lucy was from Fairy Tail. This must've been her old guild, and she was now in Sabertooth. Erza may have wanted to brag about defeating bandits, but the woman with scarlet red hair was about to meet someone who could truly brag about himself.

In fact, people in Lamia Scale had to listen to Takuya brag about every single job that he completed. The wielder of Wind Magic took at least seven jobs per day with Hizuki, collecting at least 900,000 jewels every day, and most of that money was taken to the cafe in the town of Kazehana. The town elder had been watching over the building, but Takuya still needed to find some people who would run the cafe with him. Lyon certainly refused his offer, but Hizuki did manage to form a nice friendship with Chelia. That also helped Hizuki become friends with Sherry, so it would be good for the cafe to have two more employees.

Lyon kept walking to the request board with a confident look on his face, prepared to take some jobs that he could handle, but he was certainly not prepared for Takuya stopping to look at Natsu for a moment. These two guys seemed to sense each other's strength, making them grin at each other for a moment, and Erza could see Takuya start to smile like he had something important to say. Lyon could see that Juvia wasn't in the guild right now, and that was a shame. After all, he could've tried flirting with her to avoid listening to whatever Takuya would say.

"Hey, fairies. Your friend Lucy stopped by Kazehana Town several days ago, and we had a battle during the festival. I'm still psyched at how that blonde babe ended it in a draw, and she was pretty strong. I can't believe you losers let that babe leave." Takuya told Natsu's group in an arrogant tone, before directing his smirk to the whole guild.

Natsu replied while getting up out of his chair, remembering that it was her decision, "We'll beat your guild at the Grand Magic Games, buddy! I don't know your name, but I care about Lucy! Besides, Lisanna helped me understand that the stuff with Lucy in the beginning was Erza's fault."

That only made Erza comically slam her head on the table, wondering if Lisanna would ever let her catch a break, but she was surprised to hear Takuya say that he didn't have much interest in the Grand Magic Games. He felt like Lyon and Toby wouldn't allow him to participate, since he and Hizuki were still the guild's newest members, and Takuya rudely stated that Lyon was just mad that he got beaten in a fight where Takuya used the speed of his Wind Magic to give himself a great advantage. In fact, he wanted to tell everyone about that battle.

Gray seemed interested in hearing it, but Lyon came back to Takuya's side with three flyers. He'd take one while Takuya would also get one, and Hizuki would get the last one. As Takuya took a flyer from Lyon's hand, however, the man with silver hair comically grabbed his right ear while proceeding to walk out of the guild with him. He wouldn't want Gray to hear about that fatal loss, since Gray would probably tell Juvia all about it, and the wizards in Fairy Tail just watched Takuya wave goodbye to them as he griped about how Lyon made him take a flyer as bait for this to happen.

* * *

 **10 minutes later, back at the inn...**

Lucy and Kira had arrived at the inn to see Sting standing behind the desk, watching him look pretty pleased that they came back, and all three mages were ready to leave the town of Eisetsu. Kira was focused on getting back home to change her clothes and make profits while Lucy was going to train with her new magic, but Sting would hope that everything was going fine in Sabertooth while he had been absent from the guild. If Rogue was also out on a job, then that would leave Rufus as the person in charge until Sting's return.

The light dragon slayer also wanted to leave this frosty town, as he was starting to get bored of the constant coldness, and Sting would be very happy to see Lector again. Telling the red Exceed about how the fight against Clair ended in a loss would be disappointing for Sting to do, but Lector would still be proud of him. Even when someone thought that they were incredibly great and unbeatable, there would always be someone who would prove them wrong. A loss was quite saddening, but Sting would have to move on.

He smiled at Lucy while watching her read the words in the mint green spell book, seeing that she was currently looking at a page that featured a picture of the Verdant Crystal with instructions on a pose that had to be done for the eighth spell of Wind Magic to appear, and Sting felt like it would be quite exciting to see what this spell could do. The excitement that came with the spell would probably make Lucy feel like she was incredibly strong, as this spell would be pretty cool, and Sting watched Kira take a peek at the book while she looked over Lucy's shoulder. Lucy also took the Verdant Crystal out of her ski pants' left pocket, and its V-Power would be unleashed.

Whatever this new spell would be, it would probably be fun to witness. After taking a few more moments to memorize what had to be done, Lucy closed the book and got up from the couch. She stretched her arms forward while her palms were face-down, and the blonde-haired girl moved her arms up and down like a bird that was flapping its wings. Lucy also exhaled a breath of air, fully following the instructions, and two small tornadoes of mint green wind began to surround her feet! She started to float up into the air, taking flight, and Lucy focused on her magical power at the same time she turned around to see the innkeeper come in.

"I'm back! I hope you enjoyed your stay at the inn, and please do come again someday!" The black-haired girl told the protagonists, before looking startled at the sight of Lucy starting to fly around the inn at a fast pace.

Lucy responded while looking quite shocked, before heading towards the innkeeper and seeing her step aside to let her leave, "Don't just stand there! It's my first time flying, and this could get crazy!"

Kira happily said aloud to herself while watching Lucy look upward to begin flying straight up, "Wow, Lucy's confidence is definitely soaring like how she's soaring now! She's definitely not afraid to take on the air's coldness."

Lucy thrusted her palms forward, creating two mint green tornadoes that started to circle around her at high speeds, and Lucy shifted her left palm's aim towards the nearby snowy mountains. That caused some icy air to come up from the town to engulf Lucy's left palm, and the cold air soon removed itself from her hand to form a mint green tornado that was close to it. Lucy aimed her right palm at some snowflakes that were falling down towards the town of Eisetsu, causing air to come up to her palm once again, and another tornado was formed.

The townspeople who were curiously looking up at Lucy got to see the four tornadoes start to rotate around her at high speeds while they moved in a perfect circle. Every time a tornado passed her, its speed would increase. Lucy watched the tornadoes gain more speed as they spun, creating some high winds that blew down towards Eisetsu Town, and Lucy closed her eyes as she began to focus on the icy. Even though Lucy couldn't inhale icy wind to take in any Ice Magic that was infused with it, she could still focus the cold wind itself into her tornadoes.

Lucy opened her eyes while moving her hands in a slow manner, directing the currents of cold air into her projectiles to make the coldness give them some density, but Lucy accidentally created another tornado by focusing magical power into her left palm again. There were now five tornadoes spinning at the same time, each one moving at incredible speeds, but Lucy remembered that she could raise her arms upward. She did that, resulting in the projectiles quickly flying upward, and Lucy fell down to the ground.

The tornadoes soon detonated simultaneously in five massive explosions that were mint green while they were filled with Wind Magic, and Lucy soon landed in some heavy snow. Her shape could comically be seen in the snow by the people who ran towards the spot where she fell, and the noise even made Clair come running out of the palace. She was not only concerned with the explosions, but loud noises and this area with large mountains of snow nearby did not go hand in hand. The mountains could soon be heard rumbling, almost like heavy snow was about to fall, and Clair ran towards the mountains while hoping to prevent an avalanche from harming the town.

Lucy said to herself while getting out of the spot she landed in, wiping some snow out of her hair, "Wow, that was an insane spell of Wind Magic. I hope it didn't harm any birds."

Sting exclaimed as he ran towards Lucy with the spell book in his hands, seeing mint green sparkles fall from the sky, "Wow, that spell left behind a pretty nice finale! Lucy, you just keep getting stronger!"

Lucy replied while smiling softly, glad that no one was laughing at her flying skills, "Thanks, Sting. I'm still surprised by how its flight effect was erratic."

Sting had seen the spell initially allowed Lucy to just fly around while the tornadoes of wind were on her feet, but looking in a certain direction while focusing her magical power into the spell had caused the tornadoes to soon act like rockets that were on the bottoms of her boots. Lucy could change her flight direction by looking somewhere else, and any tornadoes used with this spell would force Lucy to stay flying in midair. She couldn't fly in any directions as a side effect of this spell, but she could aim her attacks in any direction to either attack or defend herself from multiple foes. This spell was quite interesting, was it not?

Lucy stood up and smiled while Sting handed the book to her, but she wouldn't accept it immediately. Lucy bent down for a moment to pick up the Rainbow Crystals that fell out of the left pocket of her pink ski pants, grabbing them all to put them back in the pocket, but she took out the Cerulean Crystal to make the spell book change colors once again. Lucy smiled cutely as she placed the blue crystal on to the book, resulting in it changing from being mint green to being a regular shade of blue, and she watched blue beams of light go down into the book. Hopefully, Lucy would enjoy using these new spells.

Since there was now nothing left for the team to do in Eisetsu Town, they decided to just head towards the train station to take the next train back to the warm town of Shioru. The three protagonists were going to keep moving forward with their goals, even looking forward to the new jobs that they'd have to handle later, and a certain Eastern-looking woman who came out of the bar to see Lucy's attacks explode would plan on making Sabertooth have the skills that would take them all the way to the top of the Grand Magic Games. It seemed like everyone was looking towards the future. Well, it would be nice if everyone in Fiore didn't dwell on the past.

* * *

 **Elsewhere, at a cemetery...**

Two men put some purple flowers on a grave while they stood in front of it, both of them frowning as they wiped some dirt off of the grey tombstone that had a woman's name on it, and one of these men wore a purple mask that covered the upper part of his face while he wore a purple top hat as well. He wore a violet tuxedo that had three lavender buttons on the bottom, and he wore some amethyst purple pants with blood red shoes to complete his outfit. This man's brown eyes could be seen while he glared at the grave, his fists clenched at how the situation never should've happened.

The other man appeared to be a teenager who was around Natsu's age, having lilac hair that fell over his left eye while a bang framed his right eye, and this man wore a black sleeveless tailcoat-like vest with a lavender tuxedo top underneath it. The vest two sported rows of double brass buttons with gold lines between them, and this man wore black pants with black derby shoes for this day. His eyes were violet while they were full of disappointment, as this was the sixth anniversary of someone's death, but that wasn't the only thing disappointing him.

"Kyouji, listen. That was six years ago, and she would want us to live with happiness." The teenager said to his older brother in a calm manner, before folding his arms.

The man known as Kyouji harshly responded to his younger sibling who was known as Kenji, giving him a stern glare, "Don't talk nonsense, Kenji! You were too young to understand it all back then, but we were very happy before this town made her die. She must be smiling down on us, seeing what we've done to make her proud!"

Kenji frowned while stepping back, knowing that he was six years younger than Kyouji, but even being younger didn't stop him from feeling uncomfortable about what was happening in their town. His brother had no problem with it, as tourists seemed very happy to come here, but anyone who did have a problem with the brothers would be executed by Kyouji himself. Some people were able to survive and speak of the town, but others wouldn't be so lucky. Kyouji wanted to rule with an iron fist, and he would just laugh about it.

The person who had died, however, was his reason for studying up on magic and doing what he did. Kenji had never forgotten the sight of the explosions, even though he wanted everyone to get out and avoid being hurt, and Kyouji was starting to frighten him with his moments of vengeful laughter. The residents of this town would listen to Kyouji while some people even felt sorry for what had been done in the past, but that was not enough to make him feel happy. In fact, he wanted to send all the pain back to the people who caused it.

Even though these brothers got to live in the town's mansion where the previous guild master had lived, people would actually be afraid of them because of Kyouji's strength. He got rid of those fears with his magic that made the people obedient to him, following his every command, but some people who weren't in need of being hit with his magic were free to have wills of their own. As long as they stayed loyal to him, then he would not harm them. Just like the woman who was deceased and in her grave, Kyouji had a moral compass.

Kenji was glad that his brother let some of the maids live freely in this town, as they were very compassionate women who cared for the two brothers, and the maids were actually fellow wizards who were in the same guild as the brothers. Kenji didn't mind that they were in a dark guild, but no one could've predicted what his brother would do on that fateful day. Things had changed when their family was ripped apart by poisonous tragedy, but the lives of these brothers greatly changed when Kyouji took fate into his own hands. Getting money to make the mansion better and seeing the other members give him looks of fear was quite great, but Kyouji wanted the whole town to treat him better.

"You always seem so down, Kenji. It's like you don't enjoy being a wealthy wizard who makes the same people who laughed at you start to kneel and grovel for your praise. I wish you could see how revenge solves problems. It's a good thing to have people kissing our feet for five years." Kyouji told his brother in a calm manner, as he saw him walk away towards the town.

Kenji responded in an annoyed manner, knowing that Kyouji wasn't normally getting respect, "At least I don't use force to make friends, Kyouji. Look, I'm just going to take a job and not hear you stroke your ego again. Just have some actual amusement tonight in a town that contains it."

Kyouji simply watched his younger brother walk off while thinking that he was just too young to understand, and the masked man felt like the deceased woman would enjoy seeing that he could use his magic to create greatness. Not only that, but he was even nice enough to use some of the previous guild master's funds to build a fancy carnival for some civilians who would come here with their kids. The carnival was only open at nighttime, however, and that was when Kyouji would use his magic to make children or wizards in this town be under his command. His motives and practices for manipulation and execution were questionable, however.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 21? Did you like it? I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, followed, and favorited this story. I appreciate your suggestions immensely, and you help the story stay exciting. :)**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Truth and Ideals, Part 1**

* * *

Lucy sat down at a table in Sabertooth's guildhall with Sting and Lector, drinking a sugary cup of coffee that was in a nice mocha flavor, and she had been the only one who was feeling good about the job that the team would handle today. After leaving the cold town of Eisetsu, four days had gone by. Lucy went out on jobs with her boyfriend and his red Exceed during those days, accumulating more money, and those four days were also useful for helping Lucy learn about the new spells that had been gained from the book coming into contact with the Cerulean Crystal.

She had placed the blue book next to her cup of coffee while thinking about how the spells of Water Magic seemed to be pretty impressive, and Lucy smiled calmly as she thought about what happened when she used her spells. It seemed like her Water Magic had some pressure and density to it, as the attacks could strike heavy boulders in the mountains with a sufficient amount of power to break, but Lucy wanted that density to be increased. She even made the Water Magic engulf her fists yesterday to increase the overall strength of her punches, and making the water surround her feet would help her kicks get more strength.

Yesterday's job of destroying boulders that were in the mountainous area had come with a nice reward of 300,000 jewels from the client, and Lucy was satisfied with that money. However, the easy job didn't seem incredibly fun. It had been a pretty quick mission to handle, and Sting let out a sigh of boredom while hoping that today's job would be made fun in some way. The boredom wasn't caused by Lucy, Sting, Rogue, or Kira picking out bad jobs. It was actually stemming from how Sabertooth's request board didn't get any flyers that had exciting tasks on them, and most of the requests were just heavy chores or retrieving items that were dropped.

It seemed like most of the jobs involving outlaws were being handled by people in other guilds, and the people in Fairy Tail and Lamia Scale were handling the tough tasks of defeating criminals. They were most likely fighting any criminals who would appear on a daily basis, using those fights as training for the Grand Magic Games, and their rates of taking down criminals were probably why the majority of those jobs went to the guilds. Sabertooth surprisingly got the lesser amount of jobs that involved assassinating criminals or catching them, and Sting simply had a bored facial expression about the situation.

"Lucy, I wish we could have a fun job. It's just not exciting to destroy rocks or fallen trees, and picking fruit is also boring. Seriously, the criminals need to come to us." Sting told his sweet lover in a tone of voice that lacked enthusiasm.

The Celestial Spirit Wizard took a small sip of her hot coffee and replied nicely, "Don't worry, Sting. Something could come up in the next few hours, and even taking down a petty thief would possibly be fun."

Lector commented as he smirked in a cocky manner while being on Sting's head, "Those criminals are probably just scared of how great Sting-kun is, so they're refusing to challenge him!"

Even though Lucy let out a nice giggle at Lector's words, she actually felt like it was weird that the second-best guild in Fiore was getting less jobs about criminals than the Lamia Scale guild. They were the third-best guild in Fiore, but maybe more criminals were active in areas around Margaret Town. The knowledgeable outlaws most likely weren't doing illegal activities near the town of Shioru because of Lucy Heartfilia, due to reading newspapers that talked about her surprising success, and some criminals didn't want Lucy to be the assassin who would kill them.

Lucy wore the orange top hat that she bought from the clothing store, along with a blue T-shirt, and Lucy also wore a jungle green skirt to complete her outfit. Lucy's flat shoes were black while Sting had liked her fashion choices for today, and Lector chuckled as he thought aloud that Lucy looked like a magician who was lacking a black cape. Lucy would also be missing a magician's mask and birds that would fly out of her top hat for comedic effect, but she wasn't trying to find jobs for carnivals or circuses. After all, Fairy Tail's circus jobs usually involved cleaning up after the animals.

The trio's table was near the bar, and Lucy took notice of how there was a large map of Fiore on one of the bar's walls. She got up from her chair to walk towards the bar while looking curious about the map, and Fiore had many towns. There would surely be a good task for the team to handle, even if it would be quite far from the Sabertooth guild, and Lucy focused her eyes on the map. It would be one thing to just pick a town, but Lucy would have to ask Sting about each place. After all, it would be bad for her and Sting to end up going to a dangerous place that was very deadly.

Lucy took notice of how the map was color-coded, seeing that Eisetsu Town's land was colored light blue while a town around the same size in the southwest had its land represented by a royal shade of purple, and other towns were colored in accordance to the types of magic that were dominant in those areas. For example, Lucy could see that Kazehana Town was north of Shioru while its land was mint green on the map, and Sabertooth's town was golden. Natsu's fiery rampages had been famous enough to make Magnolia be red on the map. Sabertooth may have been a rivaling guild of Fairy Tail, but the flow of amazing jobs was what the former reigning guild began to lack.

Just like Fairy Tail, however, the Sabertooth guild did have a library where various books were kept. It would be good to try and find a book on towns that would lead the protagonists to the type of job they sought without overly dangerous enemies involved, but the sound of the guild's entrance doors slowly being pushed open to create an eerie creak had made Lucy be snapped out of her thoughts. Someone let out a sigh of relief as they were happy to finally reach this guild, but who was it? Sting got up from his chair to see that a stranger entered the guild while Lector looked alert, and Lucy ran over to her boyfriend's side for the purpose of seeing the visitor.

This visitor was accompanied by a brown-haired woman who wore a black maid uniform with a white headpiece to match, but the visitor himself wore a purple dress shirt with lavender jeans and neon purple shoes to match. His lilac hair fell over his left eye while a bang framed his right eye, and this man shared his brother's brown eyes. He frowned in a frustrated manner as he walked into the guild, not caring about how people could notice the purple insignia that was on the back of his right hand, and the maid who accompanied him had that same guild mark on her wrist. They needed Sabertooth's assistance, but the sight of their guild insignia being on a list of dark guilds that Sting checked out in yesterday's paperwork had made him narrow his eyes at them.

"Don't just walk in here quietly, you dark mages. I'm Sting Eucliffe, Sabertooth's guild master. State your business for coming here." Sting told the duo in a stern tone, before his eyes glanced at Lucy's blue book as a signal for her to pick it up and be ready.

The maid with long hair and fair skin replied as she bowed politely, giving Sting a calm look, "I apologize for our intrusion. I am Misora Shokora, and I am the town's best maid. Master Kenji asked me to join him on the train ride from Mumargi Town, and he didn't want to come here alone. He wanted me to remind him about which town Sabertooth was in, and he says that his request is important."

Kenji responded in a somewhat displeased manner while folding his arms, before calmly explaining himself, "Misora, you just made me seem like a nervous coward. Anyway, I'm Kenji Kuragari. Judging by your reaction to my guild mark, it's pretty unnatural for someone from a dark guild to need help from a legal guild. It would be even more crazy to say that I was recently placed in charge of my town's amusement park, and some people dread the carnival's craziness."

This certainly made Sting and Lucy widen their eyes in a surprised manner, never guessing that a dark mage could double as the head of a carnival, and Sting looked at the insignia on Kenji's hand. It was six small purple diamonds forming a hexagon, seeming simplistic, but that mark belonged to the guild known as Ruinous Crows. That guild and its town were normally associated with the weird rumors of how the amusement park was only open at night, and its residents would seemingly act pretty weird when they got involved with the festivities of the amusement park. On top of that, the dark mages in Ruinous Crows were said to fight like maniacs while most of them supposedly had bad attitudes.

Sting once heard a rumor about how the carnival games in that town were insane, as the gravity in those games had been suspiciously weird, but he wouldn't care for most things in that amusement park. In fact, Sting knew that he and Rogue would get sick from just seeing the roller coaster go down fast and make those crazy loops. Still, from hearing Keiji's request, it seemed like something was going on with the mages in that town. What was so bad? Had there been sightings of cheating in the carnival games that couldn't actually be proven, or was there more seriousness to this request that involved Mumargi Town's forms of amusement?

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in the guild's office...**

Since Sting wanted to talk with Lucy and have breakfast with her in an hour, that left his good friend Rogue with the task of handling the morning paperwork. The door to the office was closed while Rogue sat in the black chair, observing the papers that were on the golden desk, and the shadow dragon slayer didn't really pay any mind to the creaking of the guild's entrance doors. Frosch stood on the desk while giving Rogue a happy smile, and Kira was standing next to the filing cabinet as she pretended to be Rogue's secretary. She was a merchant who wasn't involved with paperwork, so she wouldn't be too serious about it.

Rogue was currently looking at more paperwork for the Grand Magic Games that was sent to Sting, informing him that the tournament would last seven days like in the previous year, and this paperwork surprisingly had a section for the names of mages who should receive praise from the judges. If there was an event about to happen and a praised competitor was in it, then the judges would say some good things about them. The judges could also add their commentary about other wizards, but getting that praise could inspire someone to do the event very well for their guild.

On top of that, getting praise could also make a mage be selected by the king of Fiore for the battle. After all, the battles did get decided overnight. The sponsors would be the people who chose the pairings for the battles that would occur on the first four days of the Grand Magic Games, but the king himself could decide some of the pairings. Last year's battle between Elfman Strauss and Bacchus Groh was certainly a tense match involving willpower, but Rogue hadn't been very interested in it. He focused on the brown piece of paper in front of him, wondering if anyone even needed praise, and Rogue narrowed his eyes for a moment while having a calm idea.

He put his hands together while turning to face Kira, wanting to know if she thought anyone on the team needed to get recognition, and Rogue simply watched the hazel-eyed girl give him a sweet smile. Kira had been thinking about the tournament as well, wanting everyone in Sabertooth to do their very best, and she was actually happy that Rogue would be willing to give her a spot in the team. He had seen Kira's powerful abilities two days ago with a spell known as Fiery Chandelier, and it was quite an interesting spell of Fire Magic. Hopefully, though, she wouldn't want recognition just for herself.

"Kira, do you think getting praise for our team would just inflate our egos?" Rogue calmly asked her while his facial expression turned serious, remembering last year's tournament where arrogance and surrendering had annihilated Sabertooth on the fifth day.

The girl with red hair replied calmly, smiling as she thought about the question, "You don't necessarily need praise from someone else to feel strong. I think that believing in yourself is gives you the power to win or lose, and you can't let praise from others make you overconfident. You and the others certainly know that firsthand, Rogue."

The black-haired male looked calm while shrugging off Kira's playful jab that came at the end of her response, but he did listen to her start to talk about how getting scared of an enemy or underestimating their strength were key factors to a mage's downfall. Kira never thought that one powerful hit on an enemy would be enough to defeat them, and she felt like people could also become stronger through determination that would never yield. She never wanted to see her friends lose their determination, not even for a moment, and she would never let them feel crushed by a defeat.

Rogue could hear the passion in Kira's voice as she explained that to him while looking determined, and he could guess that her words about never wanting to see her friends lose determination had been a reference to how Sting told him about the icy battle against Clair. When that woman punched Lucy in the stomach, she became startled and possibly scared of that power. That was probably why her confidence wasn't fully there, causing Lucy to feel like she lost, but Rogue and Kira were both glad to see that their friend was moving on from her loss.

Kira actually watched Lucy and Sting handle their recent job yesterday while she hid behind a rock, seeing Lucy use Water Magic to destroy a boulder that was on the mountain trail, and steam was seen after the blast to let Kira know that Lucy's spell was quite hot. The quirky merchant had also been surprised to hear Lucy tell Sting that Clair was her inspiration for focusing on that spell's heat, increasing it from lukewarm to scalding hot by making a drill of hot water emerge from a bubbling puddle that was left behind as an aftereffect of the previous spell, and Lucy was certainly determined to improve.

Judging by that and how Lucy was willing to handle her trouble on Emblaze Island when they first met, Kira could see that Lucy was understanding that confidence wasn't the main key to winning a battle. Determination was the important factor, as that could cause a person's mind to send more strength into their spells, and Kira knew that spells could be strong if the user also had a will that would stand tall like towering flames that burned with intense heat. Putting effort into getting stronger was something that Lucy also understood, and the other mages in Team Sabertooth would certainly understand that rule.

Rogue asked Kira in a concerned manner while his thoughts shifted to Lucy, remembering how Sting told him that they got a Rainbow Crystal by simply finding it, "Kira, what should Lucy do if she must battle for her sixth crystal? Do you think she'll make mistakes?"

Kira responded in a supportive manner as she smiled, "No way, Rogue. Lucy only lost that last fight because she didn't utilize all the tricks that came with Wind Magic, and hearing about that fight from her had made me guess that Clair used her Water Magic with neat tricks involved. If Lucy uses her spells in clever ways while increasing her power as well, then she'll win."

Rogue chuckled a bit from hearing his red-haired friend go on to say that Clair was just some rough water that Lucy couldn't sail through with any ease, but this next battle would probably involve some fun redemption. In fact, the shadow dragon slayer heard through the door about how Mumargi Town was mentioned by someone. That town had been known for having a dark guild that oddly wasn't seen as a problem by the Magic Council, due to the mages there taking jobs like legal wizards in the daytime, and everything seemed normal during the nighttime. If the people conducting the carnival games were making illegal gambles or letting their amusement park music get loud to where it greatly disturbed other towns, then there would've been a reason to make the dark guild be seen as a threat to the people of Fiore.

Kira walked over to Rogue while her hips nicely swayed back and forth, simply seeming calm, and she gently petted Frosch's head. Rogue saw Kira smile while saying that she'd probably join Lucy on the job that would transpire there, as it could be fun, but Rogue also felt like going. He felt like accompanying Kira would keep her flames from damaging anything, as an amusement park did have attractions that were capable of exploding, and Rogue would fight alongside her. He thought about the order in which Lucy was getting her Rainbow Crystals, so the next color after blue would most likely relate to a type of magic involving powerful spells that came with some dark tricks.

* * *

 **40 minutes later, in the guild...**

Sting and Lucy had sat down at a brown table with Kenji and Misora while Lector had flown on to Lucy's head, and the protagonists watched the dark mages give them an eerie silence for a while now. Kenji gave them a skeptical look while wondering if they'd even believe what he was going to tell them, as no one else ever seemed to notice what was wrong with the town, and he clenched his fists tightly while closing his eyes. The situation in Mumargi Town was quite bleak, due to his older brother's desires, and keeping things bottled up would never help anyone.

Kenji thought about how their mother's death had caused Kyouji to become a vengeful individual, remembering his first speech from six years ago about wanting to make the guild master and the other guild members pay for how they mistreated the young brothers before and after their mother's death, and the man with purple hair couldn't justify his brother's rage. Just because their mother was sent out on a tough job by the guild master and got badly poisoned by an enemy, which led to her death, that was no reason to have hatred towards the dark guild. Kenji just felt like the wrong job was accepted by his mom, but he had no ill will towards the guild.

Kyouji, however, felt like the guild master had just shrugged off his mother's death like she was an expendable pawn. He felt like the guild master sent their mother out on that job to get rid of her, and her death left the boys as orphans. Kenji shared Kyouji's feelings about how his mother was a sweet woman who deserved better, but the brothers differed on the subject of revenge. Just because they couldn't pay their house's rent to the guild master back then, he kicked them out of the house and even threw out their mother's books on Darkness Magic. Kyouji wanted to avenge her, but Kenji had felt like revenge wouldn't bring their mom back to life.

Being homeless for a whole year while being forced to take jobs to just buy food had been rough for Kenji and his older brother, but getting spat on by guild members who passed by them had just pushed Kyouji over the edge with his desire for vengeance. It grew like the darkness in his heart, causing him to greatly study his mother's books of Darkness Magic to master some powerful spells, and one full of year of horrible mistreatment from the townspeople was paid back to them in the form of seeing their original guild building fall to ruins. The day after that, however, Kyouji took his vengeance a step further with the public execution of the guild master before taking the title that he'd share with Kenji. As Kenji continued to think about the past and how Kyouji snapped, the snapping of Sting's fingers made his focus be shifted to the protagonists.

"Are we just going to sit here all day, or will you tell us why you came here?" Sting asked him in a somewhat impatient manner, wondering why Kenji was taking so long to say something.

Kenji replied in a concerned manner while looking at Sting and Lucy, "My brother. My older brother, Kyouji Kuragari, has taken over the town of Mumargi for five years now. Ever since he discovered that some spells of Darkness Magic have dark aftereffects, he's used those spells to execute anyone who disobeys him. Some bodies remain in the cemetery while others are hit with dark magic to become puppets, but their souls go into his magic. He wants to collect as many souls as possible with Darkness Magic for the purpose of using that dark energy in a ritual to resurrect our mother. It's crazy, I know. He even took the guild master's soul as payback for shadily sending our mom out on the job where she got poisoned."

Lucy asked with a curious look on her face, wanting more info on this situation, "Why does he want to resurrect your mother with the energy of souls?"

Kenji brought up how their mother was in heaven right now, her soul possibly being at peace, but he said that Kyouji probably wanted her to be brought back to life for the purpose of seeing how he made the townspeople respect him. They could no longer mistreat the family who had power over them, having the power to kill them at any moment, and Kyouji had felt like their mother would enjoy seeing people kiss his feet or Kenji's feet before obeying the policy of getting kicked in the face like lowly dogs. If their mother had been a woman who was kind and nice, why would she want to see her boys be cruel to other people?

Lucy and Sting were surprised to hear that Kenji would use his Poison Magic to kill people, even using poison to harshly sicken tourists who acted rude towards Kyouji, but the young man regretfully explained that he was only following his brother's orders for collecting souls. He told them about how the loss of their mother drove Kyouji to seek revenge on the dark guild, wanting the other mages to experience the years of pain that they caused to the two brothers and their mother, but Kenji did not wish for his brother to create so much death. Their mother would want them to live happy lives that didn't involve malicious harm to people, but Kyouji was only focused on his dream of avenging her.

Kenji had wanted to have dreams of his own, but his big brother told him that they had to stick together. Kyouji told Kenji that he was the only person left who would truly care for him in this world, and Kyouji's vengeful desires could not be opposed. Kenji began to shed some tears at how he didn't have the courage to physically fight Kyouji or stand up to him, knowing that dealing payback on the guild members and the townspeople would create more pain than pleasure, and more deaths would just tear families apart. For someone who had wanted his family members to be happy, Kyouji had no problem with making other families experience the dark sorrows of tragedy.

Lucy calmly listened to Kenji's words about how his big brother wouldn't kill anyone who proved their loyalty to him, but anyone who showed any signs of disrespect to him would be killed. The blonde-haired girl widened her eyes in amazement from hearing Kenji sadly say that the past four days involved some of the people who had shown loyalty to Kyouji in the first year of his reign now complaining about how they didn't like that Kyouji made them work at the carnival for all of the nightly hours with no time to rest or eat any food, but the older brother would merely call them weak hypocrites who couldn't handle mistreatment while they had no problem dishing it out to him in the past.

"I can guess that they pledged loyalty to him at the beginning to save themselves from getting killed, but the executions must've really reduced your town's population." Sting told Kenji in a calm tone, wondering if the town was small.

Kenji replied as he shook his head in a disagreeing manner, "No, the town is actually filled with people. The amusement park and the stores cause high numbers of tourists to come to Mumargi Town, and many of the tourists choose to live there. Kyouji doesn't charge them rent, and that keeps everyone satisfied."

Lucy asked Kenji in a calm tone while looking nervous, hoping that his brother didn't want to be a deity, "What else does your brother want, other than people's souls for his ritual and getting revenge as payback for his mother's death?"

Misora watched Kenji think about that question for a moment, giving him a calm smile, and the young man told the Sabertooth mages that he felt like his brother was mainly keeping the townspeople in check for a single purpose. Kyouji probably felt like the sight of people opposing him would cause more people to rise up and follow their actions, so he had to have those rebels be killed. That would prevent others from trying to overthrow him, but Kenji knew that Kyouji's rule was nearly absolute. After all, Darkness Magic did have spells that doubled as hexes for evil purposes.

Kenji really wanted to save his big brother from his own vengeance, knowing that not everyone who was in Ruinous Crows deserved to suffer or be in servitude like Misora, and the younger of the two brothers felt like he had to keep a promise that was made to his mother on the day that she died. Kenji remembered how her last moments were spent with him, as Kyouji had gone to the Ruinous Crows guild at the time, and being by his mother's bed side allowed him to hear one important piece of advice. In fact, Kenji would never forget what he had promised his mom.

* * *

 **-Kenji's Flashback, six years prior to the current events-**

 _Kenji was only twelve years old while his purple hair was in a bowl-cut hairstyle, wearing some white pajamas while he sat in a brown chair that was by his mother's amethyst purple bed, and the young boy looked quite sad while he stared at the woman who was hours away from dying. Her brown eyes were open while she looked at him, smiling softly as she hoped that her sons would have good lives after she was gone, and tears were falling from Kenji's eyes. He heard his mother let out some coughs while she sweated profusely, a purple bruise from a poisonous attack being on her arm, and she had just told him that the poison was spreading at a rapid pace._

 _Kenji's mother wore a simple black robe with white shoes to match while she also wore black earrings, and her hair was a lavender color. The guild master of Ruinous Crows told her to take an assassination job that would be handled in the town of Tsukiari, a place known for having wizards who specialized in Poison Magic while the terrain was marshy with poisonous swamps as the attraction, but the guild master and certain S-Class mages persuaded that job to her because of how she argued for the position of guild master. She wanted the guild members to follow her personality of being kind and not greedy, but that only resulted in them encouraging her to take that job while hiding their faint smirks of shadiness. Clearly, they were hoping that this job would permanently oust her from the guild while they didn't want her as a master._

 _"Mom, please don't die... Kyouji's been seeming angry because of it. Without you, people would just be mean to us forever. Parents who hate you encourage their kids to hate me. I don't know what to do without you..." Kenji told his kind mother while crying, his right hand holding her left hand tightly._

 _Kenji's mother responded in a calm tone while sternly looking at him, "Kenji, my son. Kyouji is probably vengeful towards the guild, and I can understand why. Still, please promise me you'll be a kind adult. Your brother feels as much pain as you do, but don't let emotions send you down a bad path. Please become a strong wizard for me."_

 _Kenji could only nod as he cried, promising his dying mother that he would become a strong wizard, and the young boy would check the guild's library for books on Poison Magic. If he could become strong with that type of magic and find cures for poisonous spells, then he'd probably be fulfilling his mother's wish. He looked around the bedroom to see the brown walls and the wooden floor, wondering when Kyouji would come back, and the purple-haired boy just continued to cry. His mom was dying, and he was very upset about that._

 _He thought aloud about how he should've taken the job in his mother's place, as many of the guild members disliked how he shared her kind nature, but Kenji's mother sternly told him that he needed to live on. She informed him that it was important for him and Kyouji to support each other, wanting both of her boys to lead happy lives that didn't involve vengeance, and she wanted to look down on them to see them feeling happy. Being upset forever would do nothing but bring them pain, and not having any friends would make them feel worse._

 _Kenji wondered about who in the world would want to be friends with a dark mage like him, as wizards in legal guilds were said to eliminate dark guilds and defeat the mages who were in illegal guilds, but his mother let him know that not all dark mages were seen as evil. There were people who wouldn't be prejudice enough to dislike him for being in a dark guild, and being from Mumargi Town wouldn't matter to them. Just like how his mother was compassionate, there would also be kind people throughout this world for Kenji to meet._

 _Kenji watched his mother have kindness in her sweet brown eyes while saying that Kyouji's rage and vengeance would result in him getting payback on people and making the guild's building crumble from his wrath, but some of the guild members would probably end up feeling remorse for how they mistreated the Kuragari Family. Kenji told his mother that he'd never forgive any of them for intentionally letting her go out on a job where she'd become gravely ill, as she could barely move now, but his mother told him that the best revenge was to change the ways of the guild. Kenji could only hug his mother softly while wondering to himself if that would be possible, especially since Kyouji was his older brother who had been strongly bent on avenging her while something as malicious as killing all the other people in the guild would be seen as a good thing in his eyes._

* * *

 **How was Chapter 22? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. It's pretty interesting to finally have another evil villain in this story, especially with how the situation involves dark mages and morals. I'm excited about this arc.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Truth and Ideals, Part 2**

* * *

After Kenji had finished explaining his situation to the Sabertooth mages, Lucy had felt confident while she wanted to accompany the purple-haired man and his kind maid on the train ride back to Mumargi Town. Kira and Rogue decided to join them, the shadow dragon slayer feeling glad that Kira's Fire Magic would heal him from the horrible feelings that would be caused by motion sickness, but everyone from Sabertooth didn't like to hear that the train ride would be seven hours long. Shioru Town was quite far from Kenji's hometown, unfortunately.

On the train ride, Kenji had warned the group about the Darkness Magic that would be used by the dark mages who were from the guild known as Ruinous Crows. Apparently, the spells that Kyouji taught to his loyal people were not the same ones that anyone from Sabertooth saw on previous missions. This magic was also rumored to be quite strong on its own, only needing additional power for spells that would be extremely dangerous, and that caused the protagonists to be quite alert. Mumargi Town may have had an amusement park, but the town itself didn't exemplify a place that was full of happiness.

Lucy and her friends were currently at the entrance to Mumargi Town, taking some steps forward on to the streets that were paved with purple cobblestones, and everyone got to see that this town was surprisingly filled with black skyscrapers that were pretty tall. Those would normally be found in large cities that were wealthy, but it seemed like Kyouji was using the money from jobs to improve the town. There were also some smaller buildings that doubled as shops, one shop even having a sign on the door that stated how it sold elemental stones at expensive prices, and the sound of a shop owner cackling nearby at a concession stand made Lucy feel that this town thrived from greed.

Kira could see a large Ferris Wheel on the western side of town, along with a roller coaster that was motionless, and the sight of children running to the other side of town with bags of money in their hands definitely informed her that they were in the right place. Even though the sunset was making the town be bathed in a nice orange glow, showing many shadows on this nice evening, the atmosphere just seemed too peaceful. Lucy noticed how people seemed to just calmly mind their own business and have fun, which was far different than Kenji's description of the town, and that caused her to give him a skeptical look.

"Isn't this town supposed to be a dark place where fear is prominent? Why is it not creepy?" Lucy asked Kenji in a calm tone, not seeing anything was even remotely dangerous.

Kenji responded with a stern look on his face while the group began walking straight down a path that would take them to some nice shops, "Well, it's not dark out yet. We're still seeing the sunset. When nightfall hits, Kyouji likes to begin his amusement."

Rogue calmly added as he looked at the setting sun, "It should get dark soon, and then we'll see what we're dealing with."

As Lucy could see some nice shops in the distance, she wondered about what Sting would like from this town. There would surely be something nice that he'd want to purchase, but Lucy felt like it would actually be a good idea to ask someone who looked decent. Some of the female dark mages scowled at her as they wore purple dresses while the glaring males seemed to wear black clothes, and Lucy looked over at the carnival to see some of those people working at the concession stands. They looked very exhausted from working, and hardly any of the workers got to sleep. Even when the carnival was closed, it still needed to be cleaned while food would need to be prepared ahead of time.

The six mages continued walking together, going on the path that led to the shops, and Kenji widened his eyes from seeing something up ahead. There appeared to be a green-haired woman wearing an orange sundress while she had appeared to be a tourist, even wearing a nice orange hat to go with her dress, but the woman just stood there motionlessly while appearing to giggle. Kenji and Misora decided to run up to her, looking concerned because of how this was something that they had seen before, and Lucy's group wondered if this town could get any weirder.

Kenji ran up to the woman while looking quite concerned, seeing a violet aura begin to surround her body, and this woman was actually one of his maids. She had dressed differently today while planning to foolishly tell Kyouji that she'd leave the town, only for him to be quite dissatisfied with her desire to leave after six long years of dark tragedy, and this woman ended up putting herself in a bad position. Kyouji felt that anyone who desired to no longer be a dark mage would demote themselves to being a pawn of his, and he simply made her mind be changed.

Misora gasped in shock as she looked at the woman's violet eyes, seeing how they looked possessed as no emotion could be seen, and this woman muttered about being Kyouji's next lamb to the slaughter. She maniacally giggled while saying that her only purpose was to serve Master Kyouji, and going against that purpose would make her be nothing more than a woman with a useless corpse. She disturbingly spoke of how Kyouji told her that there would be no forgiveness, and her wonderful execution would happen later. Kenji looked shocked from seeing this woman create a purple flame in her hands, talking about sending herself down to burn for a hellish crime, and Lucy was also surprised to hear what was going on.

"This... This is one of his ways of using Darkness Magic to possess people.. I've never imagined that he'd manipulate someone into ending themselves again, though. She must've really gotten on his bad side. He doesn't do this when he's amused..." Kenji said aloud in a scared manner, only seeing this happen in special occurrences.

The woman told Kenji with an evil grin on her face, recognizing him, "Master Kenji, you have returned. It will get dark soon, and then I will help you kill any innocent people who need their souls removed. Master Kyouji is a wonderful man who can rightfully end lives whenever he wants. The rest of us are the scum who wronged him. We're disloyal, and I must be the next one to die."

Kira ran up to the possessed woman while looking cheerful, asking in a kind manner, "Where is Kyouji? Can we get his autograph?""

The woman informed Kira that Kyouji lived in a brown mansion that could be reached by a path on this street that went up north, but the user of Darkness Magic would not be there right now. Kira heard the woman evilly smirk while telling her that Kyouji was at the town's carnival right now, thinking that he would need to get the attractions running because of how Kenji hadn't been in Mumargi Town for most of the day, and that prompted Kenji to run down the street while guiding the Sabertooth mages to the carnival's location. They were quite hasty with following him, but Misora stayed behind.

The brown-haired maid slapped the purple flame out of the possessed woman's hands, watching it create a purple explosion of fire when it hit the ground, and the noise caused some dark mages to run away from the area. They thought that a fight was about to transpire between the two women, and Kyouji made a rule in the town about how anyone caught fighting without his permission would be punished. Those dark wizards didn't want to be associated with what they perceived to be the start of a fight, but the actual battle hadn't even started yet.

Misora's current facial expression showed uncertainty, wondering if the mages from Sabertooth could help Kenji with his goal of making their dark town become a better place for everyone to live, and she knew about the death of his mother. It had pained her to see what he was going through, and everyone suffered even more because of how Kyouji wanted to exact vengeance upon the town. She clenched her fists while feeling that she needed to believe in them, as they were powerful people who had fought many enemies, and they were thankfully not rookies.

* * *

 **30 minutes later, at the carnival...**

Lucy's group arrived Mumargi Town's amusement park to see that nothing looked out of the ordinary, as there were people selling food at concession stands while the evening sun became replaced by the beautiful moon that was accompanied by a starry sky, and the rides in the amusement park began to start up. Sting and Rogue were quick to turn away from the sight of the Ferris Wheel, not wanting to see its high-speed movement, and the two dragon slayers were also quick to not catch sight of the roller coaster. This was certainly a tough mission, as Kyouji couldn't easily be spotted in the large park, and Kenji knew that his brother was somewhere in the amusement park.

Kira looked over at the spinning tub of blue cotton candy to see some kids getting the sweet treat with large spoons, not using the cups that were near the spinning attraction, and her hazel eyes witnessed the purple Ferris Wheel being surrounded by lights that changed colors. There was also a game where mages could test their skills by throwing balls at stacks of bottles to win a prize, and the prizes appeared to be pretty great. One prize was even a cake in the shape of Sabertooth's insignia, so that was neat.

Sting and Lucy felt like there would be no time to play around, as Kyouji's acts of harming people made him be classified as a couple, and the light dragon slayer decided to walk fast with his girlfriend. They took glances at some of the entertaining things in the park, such as seeing people in clownish outfits juggle various objects with ease, and there were even some metal cannons that fired purple spheres of energy into the air. Sting felt like that was odd, as cannons were rumored to be banned from most amusement park, but Mumargi Town's baddest mages had no issues with breaking some rules.

The purple spheres of energy went high into the skies, before bursting to create some violet fireworks that looked quite nice, and all of the fireworks soon went down to the ground while focusing on a single spot. Sting and the others were quite surprised to see the fireworks fall together and create a large explosion that was in a violet color, its heat being hot enough for some dark mages to comically hold out their large pretzels near it for them to get warmer, but what happened next was quite exciting to see. In fact, this was probably the only carnival in Fiore where this would happen.

A male voice said in a calm tone while slowly applauding themselves, before chuckling as they easily stepped out of the flames, "Well, that was quite a sinister entrance for tonight's festivities. Kyouji, the carnival master, is here to make sure that you either have fun or make me have fun with giving you an amusing death."

Lucy whispered to Sting in a calm tone, noticing a certain decoration on the front of Kyouji's purple top hat, "Sting, look at that. It looks like the sixth one is held by him."

The light dragon slayer responded sternly, narrowing his blue eyes as he saw the hat, "This guy just had to have one, which means we have another reason to be here."

Sting and Lucy were talking about the rhombus-shaped crystal that was on Kyouji's hat, clearly seeing that it was a Rainbow Crystal, and the sight of the antagonist removing it from his hat made the heroes be wary. The flames faded away while Kyouji looked around to see that Mumargi Town had some new visitors, glancing at Lucy and her teammates, but the sight of Sting's guild mark made the wielder of Darkness Magic scowl slightly. The Sabertooth mages were obviously here to apprehend him, but he wouldn't let that happen.

Kyouji wore a new violet tuxedo that had four lavender buttons on the bottom, and he still wore amethyst purple pants with his signature shoes that were in a blood red color. The purple mask was still over the upper part of his face while he frowned at the sight of Sting Eucliffe, one of the greatest dragon slayers in Fiore, but Kyouji gave Lucy Heartfilia a somewhat snobby look. He felt like she wouldn't be interesting to deal with, since she was just a blonde-haired girl with a blue spell book, but he felt that it would be nice to tell her something quite rude.

He turned to face Kira and Rogue, before turning his attention to Kenji, and Kyouji could only clench his fists. He could assume that Kenji asked the mages for help, getting them involved in something that had nothing to do with them, and that prompted him to aim his left hand straight at Kenji. Disloyalty was something that really had to be punished in this town, just like how he punished the previous guild master for tricking his mother into handling a bad job, and Kyouji wouldn't really care that he'd have to kill his brother to keep Mumargi Town in his control.

As a purple ball of energy formed in his right hand, Kyouji was interrupted by the sight of Lucy running a few feet away from the situation for the sake of casting a spell. It was known as Aqua Cloud, and this spell merely summoned a blue cloud of rain. It was directed at Kyouji, before going high above his head, and a blue ball of water fell down from the rain cloud. The projectile gained power as it descended, its speed also increasing, and Kyouji looked up with a bored facial expression as Lucy's first spell struck him. This was also her only spell of Water Magic that didn't require water to be nearby for it to activate.

"Was that childish trick supposed to intimidate me?" Kyouji asked in a stern manner as he turned to face Lucy, his clothes now being soaked while large puddles were left behind.

Lucy responded in a confident manner, smiling as her cocoa brown eyes caught sight of the amusement park having a dirt path that led somewhere, "It wasn't meant to intimidate you at all. In fact, it was meant to signal that we'll have a little race."

Sting watched Lucy run off towards the amusement park's path that was actually a route to an abandoned attraction, seeing her grin confidently, and he could tell what she was up to. Sting didn't want innocent people to get hurt in this fight, and neither did Lucy. That's why she was running past some dark mages and tourists who wondered what made that huge splash, and Lucy was also glad that the ground was now wet. This way, Kyouji would probably fall and not be able to catch up with her quickly. It seemed like an amateurish plan, but Lucy was thinking ahead.

Kira and the others watched Kyouji run after her while looking annoyed, not quite happy that a little trick managed to catch him off guard, but the purple-haired man thought that it would be crucial to finish off Lucy before fighting Kenji. It would be quite saddening for his younger brother to see his helpers fall right before his eyes, and Kyouji scoffed at how his brother was still focused on that philosophy of revenge being something that their mother would not want. He felt like Kenji was too naive to understand why vengeance would be good for the family, but he'd need to get rid of Lucy.

* * *

Rogue took notice of some dark mages getting out from behind their concession stands, their eyes being purple while showing no signs of emotion, and he saw some of the dark mages in the amusement park walk away quickly while they went to different areas of the carnival. Their eyes that showed annoyance or little interest meant that they obviously weren't possessed, and these mages who managed to keep their own wills swore their loyalty to Kyouji. After all, they didn't want to end up like the possessed people who would end their lives by following Kyouji's words about how they had no reason to live anymore.

He would just throw them out like garbage when they finished amusing him, being like a chess player who didn't value his pawns, and the possessed people glared at Sting's group while walking towards them. Kyouji controlled the minds of these people by striking them with spells of Darkness Magic that had hexes as evil side effects, and the main spell he used on them contained a malicious hex that ordered them to kill anyone who tried to attack him. Anyone associated with the attacker would have to be killed, too. On top of that, this particular hex could be used repeatedly on people for them to become possessed as soon as nighttime occurred.

Kira told Sting and Kenji in a confident manner while preparing to run off with Rogue, "You two can handle the dark mages, right? We're going to help Lucy!"

The light dragon slayer responded in a stern manner, before smiling at the sight of more possessed individuals coming this way, "Don't worry about a thing, Kira! This guy and I will be done with these people quickly!"

Kenji shouted to some of the dark mages who were at the carnival's entrance, seeing that they were possessed, "I am your second master in Mumargi! If you really wish to fight, then come towards me!"

Kira and Rogue ran off while looking back to see Sting punch a dark mage in the face, watching the blue-eyed male snicker in a confident manner about this brawl, and the two mages were going to find Lucy. Kira didn't want her to handle someone like Kyouji alone, as that man's crazy entrance probably reflected how revenge drove him to be such a vengeful person, and Kira wouldn't want Lucy to die. Not only were the girls good friends who could have good conversations, but seeing Lucy look like she was ready for this fight made Kira feel psyched about when they'd someday battle.

Kira remembered that Darkness Magic had spells that involved purple flames, which looked very eerie, and she hoped that her Fire Magic would be useful in the situation. Kira began to narrow her eyes at the thought of Lucy using Water Magic, hoping that she wouldn't play around with someone who may have seemed eccentric, and she wouldn't want Lucy to experience another loss. The power of dark magic was said to be fearsome, as some S-Class criminals were even dangerous for wielding it, so that only fueled Kira's desire to run faster.

Rogue ran alongside her while looking intent on keeping Lucy safe, as he knew from past fights that Darkness Magic was nothing to laugh about, and the shadow dragon slayer sniffed the air for a few moments. He could detect that Lucy's scent was on a nearby path, following the direction she ran in for Kyouji to chase her, and Rogue narrowed his red eyes when he saw the path of black dirt nearby. He and Kira turned to face it while seeing that the path was surrounded by black trees that were dead, and many people would say that it was the amusement park's spookiest path.

Kira gently held Rogue's left hand with her right hand while they proceeded to walk down the path, which had two purple statues of flames on both sides, and Kira could see something like a purple tower in the distance. This was known as the Lavender Tower, an attraction that Kenji shut down because of how Kyouji used it three years ago to lure unsuspecting people into the horrible fate of having their souls taken from their bodies. That tower was abandoned, banned from ever being used again, bu that didn't stop Kyouji's plans. Kira thought about how Mumargi Town was dealing with something sinister, and she felt like running.

"If we don't catch up to Lucy, she might die." Kira told Rogue in a concerned manner, as she ran faster while holding his hand.

Rogue replied while having a nice idea for getting closer to the tower, smiling calmly, "Well, then, I can test out this new spell."

Kira looked curious about what Rogue was going to do, but then she seemed surprised at his request for her to throw a fireball in the direction of the tower. She used her Fire Magic to create a large ball of fire in her left hand, before aiming it straight at one of the dead trees that was in front of the tower, and Kira threw it at high speeds! The moment that she threw it, however, was when Rogue activated Shadow Drive. A black aura engulfed his body while he still held Kira's hand, and Rogue ran much faster while keeping his eyes on the fireball's shadow.

Rogue activated a new spell known as Shadow Spring, pretty glad that Kira's fireball created a large amount of light to illuminate the area, and he was able to grab the shadow of her fireball. Rogue picked the shadow up from the ground, making Kira gasp in awe at this new spell he had, and then the man with red eyes was quick to throw it behind him. Kira turned around to see that the fireball's shadow was just mere inches away from them, wondering why it was suddenly glowing with onyx black beams of light emerging from it, and what happened next was pretty cool.

The shadow created a large explosion that propelled Kira and Rogue through the air, the quirky girl giggling at how she could use that as inspiration for a way to fly with her Fire Magic, and the duo was heading towards the tower. Rogue and Kira could see Lucy up ahead, watching her run into the tower's entrance while Kyouji was chasing after her, but the two mages kept going through the air while they'd probably crash. How in the world would they stop themselves from possibly colliding with the tower, and would they survive?

Kira snapped her fingers for a moment, before unleashing the move known as Fiery Belch, and she inhaled some air. Kira quickly exhaled it in the form of a belch that created a beam of fire, and she aimed it downward while knowing that her training had boosted its heat to a higher level. Rogue watched Kira's spell hit the ground while it didn't create a fiery explosion, its flames spreading outward to make the dark ground be covered with a huge red spot, and the two mages fell to the ground while feeling the spell's heat waves rise up into the air. The ground appeared to be melting, but why?

"What in the world did you do, Kira? How did your power get up to that level?" Rogue asked her in a shocked manner while they fell towards the melting ground, about to hit it.

Kira responded as she giggled, before winking at Rogue, "When I'm not on jobs or selling anything, I go out to Kasai Town and train in the volcano. Its lava is hot, and the flames are great for boosting up spells that can melt rocky terrain. Remember, I trained there a lot when I first joined Sabertooth. In fact, I think that the bandits who sent me the ransom note once saw me training in there before I stole the red book from Hell's Blaze."

Rogue gulped while thinking that Kira would be someone he'd never want to anger, as the flames on the ground were leaving behind red pools of lava, and he was quick to let go of Kira's hand. Rogue ended up falling to the ground while Kira stood in the center of four large puddles of red lava, simply liking how this spell's temperature could rival the temperature inside of a volcano, but Rogue was smart enough to realize that he could go around the puddles of lava. They were not spreading out towards the tower, which meant that he could get up and run inside to help Lucy. Kira could see inside the tower that had moonlight shining through its broken windows on the very first floor, and she was actually glad that there were no front doors in the abandoned tower.

* * *

 **In the Lavender Tower...**

Lucy stood near the tower's entrance while panting somewhat from running quite fast, and Kyouji stood across from her while being on the other side of the room. The walls of the tower were in a lavender color, going well with the tower's name, and the tiled floor was violet. There was a staircase that would take people up to the next floor, and the other five flights of stairs could help people ascend to the higher rooms in the tower. They were not important now, though, and Lucy was going to have her mind be focused on this fight. She looked straight at her foe, not caring that he stood near a black jug that was filled with dirty water.

Her brown eyes were narrowed as she glared at Kyouji, disliking how someone would want to bring harm to their own younger brother, and Lucy was going to fight him with her seven spells of Water Magic. Kyouji coincidentally thought about using seven spells of Darkness Magic, only wanting to make the female from Sabertooth feel afraid of his best spells, but the man wearing the purple top hat smirked when he began to remember Lucy Heartfilia's name. The past few days may have involved Kyouji and his brother having to hear residents complain, but there was still time to hear gossip from female dark mages who would return from jobs. As he thought about that gossip, Kyouji began to chuckle.

"Lucy Heartfilia, the girl with the spell book. My mages who went to Margaret Town and Eisetsu Town heard rumors about you from the wizards there. You fought Takuya and Clair for crystals, correct? Don't be so proud to have battled losers. Darkness Magic has the power of vengeance while they had nothing special." Kyouji told her in a cocky tone, before giggling in a cocky manner.

Lucy replied as she sternly looked at Kyouji, remembering why Kenji and Misora came to Sabertooth, "You're the one who has nothing special, Kyouji. All you have is pain and sorrow within you. You killed the previous guild master because of what he did to your mom. I understand why that upset you, but your revenge now is unnecessary."

Her words only made Kyouji narrow his eyes in an annoyed manner, thinking that she was just too naive, and Kyouji started this fight off with a spell known as Dark Blitz. This move caused four purple beams of Darkness Magic to be shot from his mouth, and they bounced around the room at high speeds. Lucy was surprised to see the four beams quickly strike her at the same time, creating a very large purple blast of dark energy, and she screamed in pain from feeling the power of this attack! It was only Kyouji's first spell, but he was pretty serious.

Kyouji was hasty with unleashing his second spell, too, and it was known as Darkness Punch. The man with purple hair struck the ground with his left fist while a purple aura began to surround his body, and a purple wave of Darkness Magic headed straight for Lucy. She evaded the attack quickly, however, and a purple explosion occurred! Part of the wall broke apart, creating a hole, and Lucy wondered how she could get close to her opponent. He appeared to be a user of long-range techniques, not suited for close combat, but it seemed like using a Celestial Spirit would be a good way for Lucy to retaliate.

She pulled out the Zodiac Gate Key of Aquarius from the left pocket of her jungle green skirt, and Lucy summoned Aquarius. The blue-haired spirit wondered why she was summoned now, before seeing that she was now on top of the black jug that had nasty water in it, and that only infuriated Aquarius. The woman with blue eyes gathered up the water into her urn, before firing it at Kyouji to send him sliding backwards, and Aquarius watched some of the water create puddles on the tiled floor. Having water around was perfect for Lucy's newest type of magic, and she activated her second spell.

This spell was called Aqua Blue Cyclone, and its effect was interesting. A blue drill of water appeared on Lucy's left hand, before spinning at high speeds in a manner similar to Clair's drills, but Lucy's drill propelled off of her hand while it headed straight for Kyouji. He was still shaking off the water while being caught off guard, and a blue explosion occurred! It may not have been massive, but the attack's power slammed the antagonist against the wall. He winced in pain while taking a few steps forward, sighing at how this fight would be harder than he anticipated it to be, but his smirk at something made Lucy start to frown.

"What's so funny? My attack wasn't weak." Lucy asked and told him while staying focused, determination entering her brown eyes.

Kyouji explained to her in an amused manner, not caring that his clothes were torn from the explosion, "It certainly wasn't weak, but your goal to stop me is stupid. I have every right to manipulate those fools in Mumargi Town, and possessing their minds to do whatever I want is a good thing. You just can't see that, but I don't care. In fact, I really don't care for the trash that I may have to execute later on in this game of life."

The villain unleashed his third spell that was known as Dark Damage, and this move caused five purple flames to appear in Kyouji's right hand. He threw them all at Lucy, who simply decided to take the attacks directly, and these flames worked in a chain where each fiery attack was stronger than the last one. They created purple explosions that were quite large, the fifth one causing Lucy to let out a scream of intense pain, and Kyouji smirked as he clapped his hands in an amused manner. However, his smirk would soon turn into a look of shock.

As he saw the purple clouds of smoke fade away to reveal that Lucy was bruised while her skin was charred from the flames, Kyouji wondered aloud about why she continued to stand. He calmly stated to her that revenge was his way of avenging his mother, getting back at the mages who mistreated him and Kenji after they were orphans, and Kyouji glared at her as he stated that the game of life had to come with killings. To him, life involved payback and possessing mages to make them be his disposable servants. He wanted them to feel the pain that he felt, and Kyouji had the audacity to harshly tell Lucy that she was an impudent brat who couldn't comprehend the dark game of revenge.

Lucy clenched her fists while saying aloud that this wasn't a game of any kind, and she definitely felt like striking Kyouji down for saying such horrible things. The fact that someone could be so cruel was something she'd hope to never experience again, having memories of a certain evil priestess who also possessed people for sadistic purposes, and Lucy remembered how she never wanted anything like that to ever happen again. Kyouji's mother may have suffered a horrible fate at the hands of the guild master tricking her into taking that job, but Kyouji was even worse by getting more blood on his hands. Lucy knew that she had to defeat him, as Kenji wanted his brother to be saved from his madness.

Lucy turned to the next page in the blue spell book, and she activated a move known as Aqua Pinball. This move caused a blue ball of water to rise up from one of the puddles while twisters of water appeared from other puddles, and Lucy watched those twisters touch the ball to get absorbed by it. They were increasing its density while a blue aura began to engulf Lucy's body, and she aggressively punched the ball with her left hand. She sent it flying straight towards Kyouji, who dodged it, but the pinball began to ricochet off of the walls.

Kyouji activated his fourth spell that was known as Darkness Hex, and this spell caused two flames to be in his hands. He decided to consume them, before shooting out a purple vortex of flames at Lucy, and Kyouji ignored the sounds of her pinball bouncing off of the walls. The vortex quickly went towards Lucy, but it was quickly intercepted by her blue sphere of Water Magic! A purple blast of energy occurred, being quite massive, and it was quickly followed by a blue blast of Water Magic! Ricocheting off the walls many times increased the power, speed, and density of this attack. Lucy narrowed her eyes while feeling that fight was not only her chance at redemption, but she'd be strong enough to battle against the spells that were fueled by Kyouji's dark emotions.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 23? Feel free to review this chapter, and tell me your thoughts on it. I'd also like to thank everyone who has favorited or followed this story.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Truth and Ideals, Part 3**

* * *

Kyouji was quite surprised to see Lucy give him an intense glare of anger, watching her open up the blue spell book once again, but the purple-haired man could only scoff at his opponent. No matter what she could do, Kyouji felt like his Darkness Magic could easily block her attacks or tear through them with very little effort. That last spell of his was certainly countered, however, and Kyouji clenched his teeth for a moment. He felt like this was completely wrong, as he thought that beating Lucy would be easy, but this fight was definitely not appearing to be in his favor.

Lucy called upon her fourth spell that was named Aqua Ring, and this spell was interesting. It caused four rings of blue water to appear in a stack on Lucy's left palm, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard simply tossed them down at Kyouji's feet. He managed to evade them by jumping up high, however, and Kyouji thought that he was safe. Looking down at Lucy to see her glare turn into a somewhat calm smile, though, made Kyouji gasp in shock. He soon fell down to the ground while watching the rings stretch themselves outward, wondering what would happen, and a single snap from Lucy's fingers possibly turned the battle around.

In a few seconds, the expanded rings of blue water detonated in blue blasts of Water Magic that were quite large! The power of the blasts was only focused to the last of the four rings, however, and Kyouji had fallen down into it. This spell's trick was the water, and one ring touching another would simply transfer the power from the first ring to the second one. The second ring had touched the third one, and the third ring made contact with the fourth one. That was a clever way to use chain power, and the previous three blasts simply left large puddles of water behind.

That didn't stop Kyouji from striking back with his fifth spell that was known as Darkness Pulse, and this was the move he tried to aim at Kenji. A purple ball of energy formed in his right hand, and it quickly went towards Lucy! She was immediately struck by the attack that soon created a purple explosion, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard screamed in pain while she could feel the intense heat of this spell. Burns were on her body while the explosion made her legs become charred and brown, but the worst part was that Lucy was now struggling to stand up.

"Be grateful that spell wasn't charged up, you fool. Why won't you just let me express my vengeance? Why don't you just give up and understand my motives? No matter what spells you use, what do you know about me?" Kyouji asked Lucy in a calm manner while frowning, wanting to understand why she'd fight so hard.

Lucy replied while panting, clenching her left fist, "I've.. I've helped many people on this ancient challenge for finding the Rainbow Crystals, and those actions impacted their lives. Even if I die, my actions live on. Kyouji, vengeance will bring you nothing but pain. You're the one who lacks understanding, and the dark mages who aren't possessed probably fear you. Your mother probably wished for your happiness, not bloodshed. Being vengeful is why you're clouded by darkness."

Kira added in a serious manner while taking some steps forward, before looking at the crystal on Kyouji's hat, "Lucy, that's right! No matter what the situation is like, don't forget the one important thing about this battle or the past few battles. The fight for the Rainbow Crystal and the fight to save Kyouji are not just tests of your power. They are tests of you as a person."

At that moment, Lucy groaned while trying her best to stand up. She went to the next page in her blue spell book to find the fifth spell, and it was known as Aqua's Azure Grace. She called upon it, and that caused a blue aura to surround Lucy's body. She felt her legs become wet by water from some nearby puddles, watching the Water Magic form blue skates that were now on her feet, and the blue aura helped Lucy's legs heal from the damage. Her legs no longer looked charred while the burns were also gone, and Lucy was ready to use this move.

Lucy began to skate across some puddles, only to feel herself suddenly skate faster on the tiled floor, and she went towards Kyouji. Lucy swerved around him, skating on one of the large water puddles, and her speed began to double! Going across the water boosted her speed, as this was the spell's effect, and Lucy widened her eyes while being quick to realize this. She continued to let her watery skates touch the puddles, giving them more water while she'd get more speed, and Kira watched Lucy zoom around the room at high speeds!

Rogue and Kira saw Lucy appear in different spots of the room, before she'd just keep zooming around, and Kyouji looked to his left and right sides while groaning in a frustrated manner. He activated a simple spell called Darkness Charge, and a purple aura surrounded his body. This move was just useful for powering up his other spells, and the man who wore the purple top hat used this move two more times. Charging up large amounts of power meant that Kyouji was planning to end this, but his eyes couldn't even keep track of Lucy.

Kyouji readied his next spell for the purpose of striking her, but he wasn't the only one who was surprised by how Lucy turned the match around. Aquarius simply stood against a wall while being amazed at seeing how her owner's skills had improved, as Lucy didn't even seem to be worried, and seeing Lucy smile when she had to stop and make 90-degree turns was shocking to Aquarius. The blue-haired woman could see that using speed to confound someone was a nice strategy, but seeing Kira start to run into the tower made her smile in an amused manner like this was possibly a good idea.

"Quit playing carnival games with me, and show yourself!" The antagonist ironically stated while looking angry, forgetting that he was in charge of the town's carnival tonight.

Lucy replied in a serious manner, appearing in front of his face for a split second, "I'm right here!"

Kira added sternly as she proceeded hit the left side of Kyouji's face with a fiery punch, doing it right after Lucy dashed away, "Don't look so startled by this punch, buddy!"

As Kyouji was sent sliding backwards, Rogue smiled a bit at how that was a smart plan. Lucy moved around quite fast while making no effort to hide the loud sounds of her footsteps, zooming around in different diretions to where Kyouji was primarily focused on her, and the shadow dragon slayer could tell that the antagonist was too focused on looking for Lucy that he didn't pay attention to the second pair of footsteps echoing in the old tower. This was quite a nice tactic by Lucy and Kira, showing that the girls made a pretty good team, and Rogue was glad to have such cool comrades.

Speaking of comrades, however, Rogue wondered how Sting and Kenji were doing at the carnival. It was concerning to think about how Sting would probably be in danger if he was alone, and Kenji didn't exactly seem like the strongest mage in Fiore. Rogue thought about running off for a moment to check up on his best friend, but would it really be a wise idea to leave Lucy and Kira to fight Kyouji alone? Based on how fights could shift back and forth between who had the upper hand, Rogue sighed as he decided to just watch the fight. Would he have a new move that was useful, though?

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the carnival...**

Sting panted heavily while seeing some more possessed mages roll across the ground, pretty glad that his White Dragon's Holy Ray attack was strong enough to knock them out with ease, and he could hear many of them scream in agonizing pain from how his moves were quite powerful. Sting stood near the cotton candy machine while trying to catch his breath, not thinking that he'd have to take down fifteen enemies in one night, but some of the possessed people had been workers at the carnival who were too weak to endure more than one hit.

Kenji used his Poison Magic in the form of needles that he spat out of his mouth, hitting his opponents in the chest with poisonous projectiles that would send toxins into their bodies, and the poison had been quick enough to make some of the townspeople pass out. Sting was concerned about Kyouji's younger brother using poisonous spells against innocent people, but Kenji had informed him that the poison would soon be removed. Knocking out these mages was an important priority, however, and it left the two males feeling exhausted.

Kenji's brown-haired friend named Misora came running to the carnival with the green-haired female who wore an orange sundress, not wanting to lose sight of this woman who had tried to hurt herself, and Misora's eyes scanned the area. She was quick to let go of the woman's hand while telling her to go over to Kenji's side, and the kind maid knelt down beside some people who had been poisoned. It had been quite sad for her to see that more people would die because of Kyouji's desires, and the protagonists either had to hurt them or suffer damage from spells of Darkness Magic.

Kenji felt bad about hurting the townspeople, knowing that there was no other way while thinking that none of the dark mages learned any healing spells, and he stood near a concession stand that sold pizza while the brainwashed woman walked over to him. He calmly asked Misora if they should be worried about this woman, hearing her nicely reply that she used her own Darkness Magic to nullify that woman's magic for a short period of time, and Kenji simply faced the woman who wore an orange hat. If Kenji didn't want to knock out people with poison, he hoped that one manipulated person wouldn't be willing to fight.

"I can't even use any spells of Darkness Magic, but even regaining a small amount of power will be enough for me to fulfill Master Kyouji's wish of seeing me die. I'm nothing but a useless pawn. It's nice to be dead to him." The woman told Kenji with an evil smirk on her face, as her violet eyes showed no emotion.

Kenji responded in a pleading manner, firmly putting his hands on her shoulders, "You are not dead! Your spirit is alive, just like how you are alive! Don't let the darkness control you, please! You have every right to exist, and you need to find happiness! We're not pawns in a game of chess! If you die, you won't get to see the light when you're in darkness!"

Misora responded in a shocked manner, as she saw tears begin to form in Kenji's eyes as he tightly hugged the possessed woman, "Kenji..."

Sting could see that Kenji just wanted all of the pain to stop, not wanting his brother or anyone else to feel like they were bound to vengeance or death, and the blue-eyed male watched Kenji cry as he pleaded with the woman to understand his thoughts. Sting sighed while he thought that it would never be possible to get through to someone who had their mind being controlled by someone else's dark desires, but Kenji didn't care. He was going to uphold his mother's promise, aspiring to become a strong dark mage, and Kenji would certainly surprise the dark mages who weren't possessed while they watched everything from behind some attractions.

Kenji kept hugging the woman with violet eyes as he explained to her that she had a purpose in this world, not needing to be seen as garbage, and he loudly exclaimed to the residents of Mumargi Town that they only obeyed Kyouji's commands because of their desire to not die. Misora and Sting widened their eyes from hearing Kenji tell his fellow dark mages that they had the power and wisdom to make other dark guilds fear their strength, as that was why they continued to train very hard and take jobs, and Kenji looked back at the possessed woman to tell her that the dark mages of Mumargi needed to live on and pursue happiness.

He let her know that she had her own emotions, and Darkness Magic would never shackle her to Kyouji's wishes. In fact, Kenji narrowed his eyes while saying that Lucy would be the one to defeat Kyouji. He believed in her strength, after seeing how she ran away with a grin of confidence, and Kenji informed the woman in front of him that they wouldn't have to suffer anymore. Some dark mages watched Kenji exclaim that he was also a master that they had to obey, and he was going to make sure that no one would cry tears of pain anymore.

Kenji trembled while feeling like he had to get through to the town's residents, but he wasn't going to be the town's guild master. He didn't want anyone to feel like darkness would continue to plague the town, and he just wanted to try getting through to them. They did not have to die at the hands of Kyouji or make themselves be dead, and the tragedy needed to stop. Kenji could only look down at the ground in a bleak manner, starting to think his words were meaningless, but the sight of tears falling to the ground in front of him had been a sign that even the most recently manipulated people could still manage to understand him.

"I.. I broke my brother's hold on you.." Kenji said in an astounded tone to the violet-eyed woman who lacked pupils, watching tears run down her face.

The woman replied in a saddened manner, hugging Kenji as her pupils returned to her eyes, "You.. You saved me. I felt like I was in a horrible nightmare where I wished to die, but somehow.. You snapped me out of it."

Sting told Kenji in a stern manner, wanting him to realize something, "You and your brother worked together to rule the town, right? Well, these people will listen to you just as much as they'll follow him. Don't ever forget that all these people show respect to you, too."

Two female mages came out from behind a nearby concession stand to see Kenji, before looking at him in an apologetic manner, and they were very sorry about being too scared to fight Kyouji for the past six years. After all, people in a guild were supposed to work together for the sake of everyone being happy. If someone was making the town's mages live in fear and feel weak, then Sting could never see them as true wizards. Even dark wizards deserved the right to display their power while feeling proud, as true strength didn't come from fear, and the light dragon slayer simply watched the mages who weren't brainwashed come out of hiding.

Even though Kenji felt very happy and wanted to lead a group against Kyouji to make him see that the town wouldn't live in fear anymore, Misora gave him a stern look that told him to just leave the fighting to Lucy. Sting smiled confidently at the thought of Lucy or Kira giving the villain a nice punch to the head for him to wake up and get some sense, and Sting believed that Lucy would be able to handle that fight. After all, she had faced a tough opponent recently and devised some nice strategies with her spells. In fact, Lucy was still thinking about getting redemption.

* * *

 **Five minutes later, at Lavender Tower...**

After running around the room for five minutes to make Kyouji be confused, Lucy stopped running and decided to activate the sixth spell of Water Magic. She was certainly going to take this fight seriously, having no intentions of faltering, and Lucy looked in the spell book to see a nice surprise. Apparently, this next spell was similar to a spell that Clair used when they fought in the icy cave. There was no telling if it would work well in this situation, since Lucy was still worried about the tricks of Darkness Magic, but this was a risk that she'd have to take.

Lucy called upon the spell known as Hydro Drill, and it caused beams of water to rise up from four of the puddles that were on the ground. The beams quickly took the shape of watery drills, having more water rise up to give them more density, and Lucy pointed the index finger of her left hand at Kyouji as a way to show her drills that he was the target. The drills spun rapidly in midair while they proceeded to go towards Kyouji, moving at high speeds to where he couldn't dodge them, and Lucy watched her attacks create four blue explosions!

The wall on the other side of the room had now been destroyed, some crumbling sounds also being heard from the upper floors of the tower, and Lucy looked down at the blue spell book to see that only one move remained. The sounds of Kyouji angrily getting up hadn't really worried her, but she did look up for a moment to see him use Darkness Charge again. He was boosting up his power again, showing Lucy that he was a guild master who didn't mess around in a long fight, and what happened next would certainly be dark to Lucy.

Kyouji closed his eyes while he put his hands together, focusing his magical power into this attack, and it would be known as Darkness Reira Migron. This spell caused six purple crescent moons to appear on the ceiling in a hexagonal formation, each one becoming engulfed by a purple aura, and Lucy watched those moons propel themselves down towards her! They looked quite sharp while also being explosive, and Kyouji had charged up so much power into this spell. Lucy read the description of her final move, frowning at its description that would give Kyouji some serious irony, but she felt like it was the only way to save him.

"Hey, Kyouji! Prepare to see why vengeance is such a bad thing! Seventh spell, I call upon thee! Poseidon's Payback!" Lucy shouted fiercely, as her eyes were immensely filled with determination.

The man wearing blood red shoes replied in a calm manner, "You just don't understand me, fool. We'll see if your strongest move can kill me."

Lucy replied in a stern manner while a blue sphere of water appeared in front of her, "You did this to yourself, Kyouji, and I never want to see anyone go through fear and pain ever again. Your mother will be proud to know that this happened."

Kyouji felt like chuckling at Lucy's statement, knowing that words were useless against him, but he gasped in utter shock to see his crescent moons go down towards Lucy's blue sphere. They soon became absorbed by it, causing it to shine in a light blue color, and Lucy touched the sphere for a moment to see that its water was dense like tempered steel. A dark blue aura engulfed the sphere for a moment, its strength being incredible, but Lucy closed her eyes while grabbing it with her left hand. This was the spell that would end the battle, and she'd gladly let Kyouji in on what just happened.

Lucy stated aloud that her sphere had been at zero power when she first used the spell, but it had the ability to absorb any nearby attacks that were stronger. Lucy chose to let the sphere absorbed Kyouji's spell that had been massively charged up, making this spell of Water Magic have tons of power, but that wasn't even the best part. This move doubled all of the damage that would be given, almost like when someone absorbed a punch to vengefully strike back with twice as much power, and Lucy ran towards Kyouji with a fierce look on her face.

Kyouji could only stand there while feeling exhausted, frustratingly thinking that he played around too much with Lucy, but the antagonist began to sigh at how this would be his fate. He began to think about how Lucy's attack involving payback was similar to what he desired, unfortunately letting his vengeance get to where he acted like a dictator over the dark guild, and Kyouji could only apologize to his brother by making a purple aura engulf his right hand. This was a necessary amount of Darkness Magic that contained many souls of the possessed townspeople, and Kyouji's moral compass caused him to throw that aura out of the tower. It flew towards the town, obeying his seemingly last wish, and Kyouji let his eyes focus on Lucy.

The blonde-haired girl aggressively slammed the sphere against Kyouji's chest, creating a blue blast of energy that was massive enough to decimate the upper floors, and Kyouji let out a scream of pain. The blast was large enough to blind everyone's eyes while its force made the tower start to shake with the sounds of collapsing, and the attack was strong enough to even blow Lucy and Kira out of the tower! Rogue caught the girls, smiling at how they seemed okay, and Aquarius went back to the Celestial Spirit World. Rogue couldn't celebrate, however, and he watched the abandoned tower begin to fall apart.

"Well, that attraction is forever closed." Kira comically stated, as she looked at the rubble and smoke.

Lucy replied in a concerned manner while watching the smoke clear up, "I think we've won."

Rogue added in an emotionless tone, "Let's get back to Sting. He must be tired of waiting around for-"

His words were interrupted by the sounds of Kyouji crawling towards the trio, groaning in frustration while his back hurt from the attack sending him flying back to hit a tree, and Kyouji breathed in a pained manner while feeling like he couldn't afford to lose. The villain with purple hair watched his purple mask break into pieces while his clothes were torn, the upper part of his top hat ripped off the blast, and he felt like people would just endlessly step on his grave if he died. On top of that, he would feel bad to leave Kenji alone in this world. Kyouji was bleeding badly from his chest while he was very wounded, and he kept crawling towards the group.

Kira watched Kyouji crawl, seeing him look quite pitiful right now, and the red-haired merchant sighed while she walked over to him. Healing the antagonist would be the best thing to do in this situation, as he would need his wounds healed for the possibility of ending up in prison, and making Kyouji be able to walk would be good for when he'd have to face Kenji. Lucy and Rogue could only glare down at their injured foe, feeling like he was lucky that assassination was not their priority, and Kyouji thought about how he could feel that vengeance in Lucy's spell. It was merely his own dark power that she used against him, and it felt immense like the anger and sadism that he had unleashed on Mumargi Town for six long years. Kyouji looked quite frustrated that he was beaten, but the townspeople would probably give him an even worse beating for his actions.

* * *

 **One hour later...**

After Sting and Kenji had eaten some food and regained their magical power, the two males went to where the Lavender Tower once stood. They were accompanied by Misora and other dark mages who wished to see Kyouji, having many words to say to him, and Sting could tell that Lucy won from how he had seen her massive blast be the finishing spell for the fight. Sting was hoping that he could run towards Lucy, but him and Misora allowed Kenji to run towards Lucy's group. It was only fair for him to be the first person Kyouji could see, after all.

Speaking of Kyouji, Kira had helped him get back on his feet. This kind action didn't come without six harsh slaps to his face, referencing his six years of making Kenji and the townspeople deal with darkness and tragedy, but Kyouji didn't mind. After thinking about everything that he had done to people, even hurting new tourists who went against him, Kyouji felt like his way of avenging his mother was certainly quite wrong. Unlike Lucy, he had not been able to see that revenge would bring nothing but dark emotions to himself. He was lost in his own madness for so long, until that powerful blow to his heart was enough to make him feel the pain that was dealt to everyone else.

"Brother.. Should I strike you with any spells of Darkness Magic to make you feel more pain?" Kenji asked Kyouji in a stern manner, seeing how his older brother was simply frowning at him while looking directly into his eyes.

Kyouji replied in a calm manner, before feeling saddened about everything that his younger brother endured, "Kenji, I realize how my actions hurt you. I killed many people, only creating tragedies, and possessing those people to have them as servants... I only sought happiness after Mother's death, but my aspirations only brought fear and pain to you. I was the one who couldn't understand things. You tried to help me move on, but I chose not to. I'm so sorry, but words are all I have for you."

Misora told him in a stern tone, knowing that some of her friends who were also mages had been killed, "It's too late for simple apologies."

Some of the dark mages angrily told Kyouji that they never wanted to see his face again, as they had cried from watching some of their possessed friends regain their souls, and they didn't need an evil puppet master in their town. Kyouji nodded as he felt very upset about his actions, even remembering how his mother was a very kind woman who never sought revenge on others, and he did feel ashamed about everything that transpired. No one would probably trust him anymore, and Ruinous Crows certainly wouldn't want him as the guild master.

Kyouji wanted to thank his younger brother for always being by his side, as he possibly would've raged out of control forever if the darkness plagued him for more years of his life, and he walked towards Kenji. Kyouji was met with a harsh punch to the stomach from his younger brother, however, and Kenji didn't want his brother to be facing him. He didn't want Kyouji to show gratitude to the wrong person, as he wasn't the one who fought the hardest to save him, and he sternly pointed to Lucy. She would be the person who needed thanks, but would she even accept what Kyouji had to say?

The man with brown eyes turned to face Lucy Heartfilia, who simply turned her head away from him, but Kyouji clenched his fists. He would not let her refuse to accept what he'd say, and Kyouji would definitely show her that she impacted his life. In fact, he did plan on leaving Mumargi Town tomorrow to study the world around him. All that he had ever knew was darkness and tragedy, inflicting pain on others, and he was going to see how everyone else in Fiore lived their lives. Some people like Lucy felt like protecting others, knowing the truth of how it was great to be a good wizard, but there were people who felt like the ideal town needed to be one that respected darkness. Lucy had always known the truth of how it was good to become stronger, and she was certainly going down the ideal path that would help her achieve her goals.

Kyouji's ideal town and his dreams only made himself happy while others were hurt and saddened, and he was going to take responsibility for everything that had happened. He slowly approached Lucy Heartfilia as he looked stern, really needing to tell her something, and Kyouji watched Kira move in front of Lucy for a moment. The Celestial Spirit Wizard motioned for her friend to not get involved with this, as there was no need for anyone to fight anymore, and she simply wondered what Kyouji wanted to tell her. Even if he showed remorse, how could Lucy believe it?

"You tried to save me from the darkness, Lucy Heartfilia, and you won our battle. I think that myself and Kenji will only agree on the fact that this is your reward." Kyouji told Lucy in a calm tone, taking the purple Rainbow Crystal off of his damaged hat to give it to her.

Lucy replied nicely, "You were so rude and sadistic, Kyouji. I will not accept it from someone who's still somewhat evil."

Kyouji countered in a calm manner, knowing that he was still in charge of something, "Don't think that you're accepting this from the evil guild master of Ruinous Crows. Accept this from Kyouji Kuragari, the head carny of Mumargi Town's carnival. You beat me in that fierce game, so here's your prize."

Sting encouraged Lucy to just take it from his hand, which she gladly chose to do, and Kyouji informed her that this violet item was simply known as the Requiem Crystal. Its name didn't go with any specific type of magic, but Darkness Magic and Poison Magic were in the category of being purple while the individuals who lost their friends and family members from years of tragedy could sing requiems to honor the dead. Kyouji said no more, as he began to walk off towards the town for the purpose of preparing to go out on a journey, and Lucy simply watched him walk past Kenji without saying a word.

The two brothers were now going to be apart from each other, but Kenji only sighed as he felt like it would be better this way. Kyouji would head out on a quest to see that the world had bright moments while it wasn't full of darkness, and Kenji turned back to Lucy to see her frown down at her sixth crystal. It may have been bad for her to receive it from someone who was still a dangerous criminal, but Kenji felt like he could only have faith in the one thing that his mother would believe in. If he could use his Poison Magic for good purposes, then Kyouji could also learn to change his ways over time.

* * *

 **30 minutes later, at the cemetery...**

Before anyone could go on any of the rides or enjoy the carnival, Kenji and Misora led Lucy's team into the cemetery that was outside of town. Kenji knelt down in front of his mother's grey tombstone while smiling a bit, very proud that he managed to find some good friends who helped him bring peace to Mumargi Town, and Kenji was happy to tell his mother about how Kyouji seemed like he would try to change into a better person. It would be somewhat strange without his older brother's presence around town, but Kenji felt like he'd be fine.

It would be interesting to see where the town went from here, as Kyouji didn't seem to care when Kenji asked him about all of the money that dark mages brought in from jobs, but the younger of the two brothers happily promised him mom that he'd make the town be a lovely place that she would get to see from heaven. That was his way of making her proud, something that she would definitely approve of, and Kenji promised to make Ruinous Crows be a good dark guild. He wouldn't allow anyone evil to take over, and Kenji had the strength to make people listen to him.

"Thank you for everything, Sabertooth mages. My mom will have nothing to worry about, and you're my friends. If you ever come here for amusement, stop by the mansion where Misora and I shall be living." Kenji told Sting and the others in a kind manner.

Sting replied as he looked pretty confident, extending his right hand for a nice handshake, "Keep working on your Poison Magic, dude. You can be a strong leader if you have more confidence, trust me. When people see that you're becoming more skilled, then your guild will just get better. Take care."

Misora told Kenji with a nice smile on her face, "Master Kenji, I will be your adviser. We'll make our Darkness Magic always shine with the violet light of victory."

As Sting and Kenji walked away with everyone else, Lucy stayed by the grave for a moment. She smiled happily while kneeling down in front of it to tell the mother of Kenji and Kyouji that she was Lucy Heartfilia, and she helped the two brothers start to go down the good paths in life. Lucy told the deceased woman's spirit that she could rest easy now, having no need to worry about her sons anymore, and she even brought up how Kenji was raised quite well. Lucy knew that things would get better for the people of Mumargi Town, as they could actually have fun and find peace, and she felt like things would get better for herself as well.

Lucy got up with a smile on her face before she ran after Sting's group, knowing that they needed to get back home, and she took a quick glance back at the grave. It seemed like Kenji and Kyouji would no longer have to deal with any darkness relating to the death of their mother, and the two boys certainly had their lives impacted by meeting Lucy. The spirit of their mother appeared in front of the grave for a moment, simply smiling with her eyes closed at how Kenji and Kyouji managed to meet such a good person, and all that she faintly said to Lucy was "thank you".

* * *

 **How was Chapter 24? Feel free to read and review.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Rumors & Romances**

* * *

Lucy and Sting were in the heated pool of the Sabertooth guild, simply relaxing in the bubbling water while it gave warm kisses to their skin, and the two mages had recently finished a job that involved getting ingredients to make spicy soup for someone in Shioru Town. The soup was certainly hot like the pool's water, and the client gave the mages 70,000 jewels for making it taste so good. They were actually too lazy to make the soup themselves, but lying about their hunger being a severe issue in the flyer caused Lucy and Sting to help them with that task.

The trip to the dark town of Mumargi had happened three days ago, and that job had been far more serious than making soup. Lucy received the Requiem Crystal from Kyouji, which was nice, but she didn't expect to see the fighting in that town be the main headline of yesterday's newspaper. The dark mages in that town were still taking jobs for the Ruinous Crows guild, but seeing a reporter or journalist from Sorcerer Magazine in any town caused the dark wizards to start talking about how Lucy Heartfilia defeated their previous guild master.

They had been doing that in an attempt to make more people think that Sabertooth was wanting to encourage new mages to join Ruinous Crows, but those dark mages didn't realize that Lucy was getting more fame from their gossip. She was actually surprised to see some female wizards ask her two days ago about teaching Darkness Magic to them, as Lucy herself had yet to use it, and even Mumargi Town's mages who took illegal jobs of getting artifacts in exchange for money from clients in the black market would be spreading Lucy's name around. Kyouji actually told several other dark mages about the entire fight before he left Mumargi, so that's how the news spread quite fast.

Sting had a calm smile on his face as he only wore some red swim trunks, liking how Lucy wore an orange two-piece bikini that had cute yellow stars on it, and he relaxed next to her while his right arm was gently around her waist. He turned to Lucy for a moment to see her blushing at him, her cheeks being light pink while she smiled, and Sting thought about how they came pretty far in their friendship that turned into a relationship. They were now in the heated pool together, which was really nice, but Sting smirked in an arrogant way about what they'd do for dinner.

"Hey, Lucy. If we go on a dinner date, will you feed me a burger?" Sting asked her in a flirty manner, imagining her feeding him in a short thought.

Lucy replied with a playful punch to Sting's chest, before giggling, "I wouldn't feed you, Sting. It's actually more fun to watch you eat."

That prompted Sting to chuckle, and he liked hearing Lucy sigh happily. Their chemistry was pretty great, even if they didn't fight together in Mumargi Town, and Sting really liked how Lucy was developing as a person. She had been much calmer, almost like that violet crystal was a symbol of redemption for her, and Lucy started to smile more. Even though she initially refused to accept the Requiem Crystal from Kyouji, Lucy actually gave that fight some thought. It was like a way of redeeming herself, especially since that man had been an unpredictable opponent, so Lucy felt some confidence return to her.

Six of the Rainbow Crystals were currently held by her, and the blonde-haired girl wondered about how many more remained. The fact that they were found in the colors of a rainbow was quite interesting, but would her recent crystal be the last one? Lucy didn't exactly feel like that was the case, since the spell book still had another section that was seemingly after the pages for the spells of Darkness Magic, but what would she have to do in the event of another Rainbow Crystal appearing? Would she have to fight a menacing person to get it, or would that person not even be a villain?

That situation would most likely reveal itself when the time came, but Lucy did need to look further ahead. After all, the Grand Magic Games would take place months from now. She shared the same goal as her fellow guild members, wanting to make Sabertooth be the best guild in Fiore again, and the guild's fate would be decided in that grand tournament. Every job that Lucy succeeded at had caused her ambition to burn bright like a hot flame that had lots of power, being driven to win, and she would let nothing stand in her way.

There was also the fact that she'd have to impress many of the spectators who were watching, including people from the other guilds, and she wouldn't make Sabertooth look bad. Lucy began to cuddle with Sting in the pool as she smiled about how he'd cheer her on from the guild's booth, and she'd try her best to win for him. Lucy's heart slowly palpitated while she raised her head upward and slightly put her lips together to give Sting a nice kiss, wanting to show him some affection, and she would love having her lips give warmth to his cheek. As she was about to do that, however, their lovely moment was interrupted by a woman's loud footsteps.

Minerva asked the duo in a stern tone as she had been watching them cuddle, "Are you going to keep being lovey-dovey in the pool with your girlfriend, Sting, or can other people get to swim in peace?"

Lucy replied in a shocked manner as she recognized the woman's voice, turning to see her, "Minerva! Wow, our paths finally cross again!"

Sting groaned while getting out of the heated pool, not wanting drama to ensue, "I had paperwork to handle, anyway. I'll see you later, Lucy."

As Sting began to walk away, Lucy simply looked disappointed at how she didn't get to kiss his cheek. She gave Minerva a glare for interrupting their moment, as she could've just swam on the other side of the large pool while ignoring them, but Lucy simply looked at the brown bikini that Minerva was wearing. It showed off most of her cleavage while also showing the curves of her body, and Lucy watched Minerva walk towards her while her stern frown began to turn into a slight smile. Lucy chose to get out of the water while glancing at Minerva's brown bikini that showed off her cleavage, and she wondered why Minerva didn't just warp her out of this room.

Minerva surprised her by calmly saying that it would be nice for them to have some girl talk and catch up, since they hadn't even interacted since the Naval Battle where Minerva sadistically tortured Lucy, and the girl with brown eyes simply felt curious about why Minerva wanted to talk with her. This probably had something to do with how Lucy's name was getting mentioned quite often around Fiore, news of her victories or losses spreading quite quickly, but Lucy softly smiled at the thought of how it couldn't hurt to share some stories with Minerva. At least she would listen, right?

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in Magnolia Town...**

Erza walked down a street in the town of Magnolia while Gray and Juvia were by her side, watching the blue-haired woman happily hold Gray's left hand with her right hand, and the trio recently finished a job that involved beating up some bandits. Juvia agreed to come along on the job, mainly because of Gray, but Erza asked for her assistance because of the fact that Natsu and Lisanna left an hour ago while the fire dragon slayer seemed pretty excited about it. The job that he picked out actually had a large feast as the reward, and he'd certainly love to share that with Lisanna.

The food wouldn't be going anywhere, but Natsu certainly wanted to eat it before any other wizards got to take away any delicious dishes in that wonderful feast. Erza sighed at how the team was fractured now, as Gray would help her on jobs while he'd also enjoy helping Lisanna with tasks as well, and the cute girl with white hair still wouldn't treat the scarlet-haired woman with any respect. The tension between them is what made Team Natsu split apart, which was quite sad, and the fire dragon slayer even told Erza that it was weird for him and Gray to be the ones who wanted her and Lisanna to stop arguing.

The boys felt like that would not be possible, however, and Erza could only keep walking down the street with a frown on her face. Juvia smiled a bit as she wondered if Erza would want to eat some blueberry pancakes at the guild with her and Gray, starting to bring up how the pancakes could be perfectly made without any mistakes happening, but that only caused Erza to sigh in an irked manner. She was pretty upset at how Team Natsu, a team that used to be pretty good for the Fairy Tail guild, was now dysfunctional. Erza was thinking about requipping out of her Flame Empress Armor, but she also thought about how Lucy was on a better team.

Yesterday's newspaper had reached the Fairy Tail guild, and Erza took notice of how the front page featured Lucy and Kira high-fiving each other while Sting and Rogue just stood next to them. They certainly seemed like a happy bunch that got along pretty well, not having drama ruin their fun, and seeing or hearing about Lucy always made Erza feel very horrible. She felt pretty bad about how Lucy wasn't in the guild anymore, no longer having a close friend to chat with, and they probably weren't even friends anymore. As Erza thought about how Lucy's absence slowly created cracks in Team Natsu, Juvia brought up some interesting news.

"Gray-sama, Juvia handled a job in Clover Town yesterday and she heard from a pair of dark mages about how Lucy fought very well against a person named Kyouji." The Rain Woman calmly said to the guy who she admired, smiling at him.

The black-haired male replied in a kind manner, already knowing about that from a dark mage who was in Magnolia three days ago, "I heard about that. Lucy is a pretty awesome person, and I'm glad that she's okay. I'm guessing we both heard about it from mages who claimed to be from Mumargi."

Erza asked the duo in a shocked manner, wondering why dark wizards would show up in towns, "Why in the world would nobody care that people from a dark guild would do jobs? Isn't it against the rules?"

Gray had actually gone to Fairy Tail's library to look for a book on guilds and the Magic Council yesterday, curious about Mumargi Town, and he informed Erza that the Magic Council didn't really care about what those mages did. Nothing ever seemed out of the ordinary, thanks to Kyouji making everyone act like there was nothing wrong, so those dark mages could take jobs and act like they were in a legal guild. If nothing seemed amiss, then they weren't seen as threats. Besides, Mumargi Town's guild members could care less about Fairy Tail. If there was no quarrel, why start one?

Juvia smiled nicely at Gray as she informed him that those dark mages had some amazing Darkness Magic, their spells being purple while they handled destructive jobs without getting any innocent people hurt, and that was very interesting to her. Dark wizards normally enjoyed hurting innocent people, but the people from Ruinous Crows were actually taught some discipline by Kyouji himself. Even though he left the town, his dark impact on the townspeople would still remain. After all, he did put them through some dark times that made them learn to have respect.

Erza was surprised that Lucy defeated a master of a dark guild, realizing that she must've been getting very strong, and the Grand Magic Games were just months away. The brown-haired woman wondered how Sabertooth made Lucy be perceived as such a great person, wondering what training methods Sting used for her to get stronger, but Erza would be pretty amazed to learn that Lucy was simply becoming better because of all the skills that she was learning. Every battle always had something for wizards to learn, and Lucy was simply gaining lots of intelligence.

As Erza continued to walk down the street with Juvia and Gray, they stopped at Lucy's apartment to simply think about how it would be interesting for any of them to be matched up against her in the tournament. Gray honestly wouldn't bring himself to hit her, as they were still friends, and Juvia wouldn't exactly fight very hard against Lucy if she found out that Sting was her new boyfriend. Erza sighed at how that tournament was coming up, and she clenched her fists lightly as she wondered if Fairy Tail would get anything higher than last place.

"Team Natsu is very dysfunctional right now, and I don't think Lisanna would even want to work with me." Erza stated to Gray and Juvia with a frustrated facial expression, hoping the teams would be good.

Gray replied nicely while he thought about what Master Makarov would say, "Gramps always says that yesterday's enemy can be today's friend, so he and the rest of us would just want you two to put your differences aside. Remember, we'll all battle hard for Fairy Tail."

His encouraging words to Erza caused Juvia to blush a light shade of pink, comically flustered at how Gray could make a little speech while smiling with determination in his eyes, and Juvia felt like Gray was such an awesome guy. Even when his friends were faced with issues that really troubled them, Gray would want people to pick themselves up. Natsu was normally the encouraging person, but Gray had to do something in his absence. The rift between Erza and Lisanna had greatly affected the team, but it did not need to escalate to where it would affect the entire Fairy Tail guild.

Juvia thought about Gray was the person who could help Fairy Tail keep their title as the champions in the Grand Magic Games, even remembering how he managed to defeat Rufus in their fight last year, but the woman with blue eyes also hoped that Lucy would be okay. Hearing that she took down the master of a dark guild seemed pretty amazing, but Juvia didn't want Lucy to fight too many powerful enemies. After all, fighting strong opponents could be a bad thing. It would be good to win, but it wouldn't be good for Lucy life to be lost. After all, she'd miss out on the joys of love.

* * *

 **40 minutes later, in a grassy park...**

Even though this calm morning seemed to involve romance and rumors, Kira sat down on a brown bench with Rogue in Shioru Town's park. The two mages were just relaxing while they were preparing to go out on a job later, and they had already chosen the task that they'd handle. Kira was pretty happy that Rogue agreed to accompany her on this search for a nice trove of treasure, really liking how he even told her that they'd make a great team, and the red-haired merchant was quite glad that he'd be by her side. After all, Rogue had no issue with letting Kira take a large amount of riches.

The shadow dragon slayer sat in between Kira and Frosch while he thought about how his hazel-eyed friend seemed pretty happy on jobs that involved great amounts of money, but Rogue had to wonder about why Kira didn't fight much in battles. On some jobs, Kira would actually try to restrain herself from putting too much power into her spells of Fire Magic. It really made Rogue feel curious, as he thought that Kira enjoyed using her spells in some of the craziest ways, but he also did think that she was trying to not burn down the towns that they would be in.

The guild of Sabertooth certainly had become more interesting with Kira and Lucy being the newest members who had some cool personalities, and Rogue calmly looked at Kira as he thought about the Grand Magic Games. Since Sting was the guild master and unable to participate, the twin dragon slayers wouldn't be able to fight together in the tournament. Without Sting to help him do their combo techniques, Rogue felt that a rematch against Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox would prove to be quite difficult. He hoped that Kira wouldn't hold back too much, and that would let Rogue see the spells in her arsenal.

He had seen some of them on jobs, but fighting in the tournament's battles could force a wizard to use all the spells that they wielded. After all, some opponents would be quite tough. Even though Rogue tended to be a rather calm person, he actually did have some worries about the Grand Magic Games. Would Sabertooth be able to triumph, or would the guild experience the taste of defeat for two consecutive years? Those thoughts actually made Rogue look at Kira with some uncertainty in his eyes, ignoring the sight of Frosch getting off the bench, and that caused Kira to move closer to him.

"Rogue, are you okay? The tournament's on your mind, right?" Kira asked him while she looked concerned, as many of the girls in Sabertooth had been discussing the Grand Magic Games.

Rogue replied in a calm manner as his voice became somewhat stern, "Yes, Kira. I just hope that the other competitors in the tournament won't be far stronger than us. I've been thinking about if it would even be possible for us to greatly win against Fairy Tail. They're the top guild in Fiore, you know."

Kira told him in a relaxed tone, before smiling nicely and letting her left hand gently touch his right hand, "We'll be fine, Rogue. Even though Sting can't participate, our guild has very strong people. On top of that, it's been a year since the last tournament. We've all worked very hard, and we'll win."

She began to tell him about how the guild members chosen for Sabertooth's team would be determined to fight hard, as they did tend to enjoy doing tough jobs that involved harsh fights, and Kira also felt happy that Rogue put her on the team. She certainly wasn't going to let him down, since it was pretty great for anyone to receive a spot on the team for the Grand Magic Games, and the wielder of Fire Magic would certainly fight hard. Not only would Kira fight hard for Sabertooth and to make her fellow merchants look good, but she'd also show off her skills to Lucy.

Kira told Rogue that she'd want Lucy to see how she used her Fire Magic, as it would be a nice little tribute to how they first became friends, and it would probably inspire Lucy to work very hard with her own Fire Magic. After all, Kira did think about how the blonde-haired girl hadn't used the Fire Crystal in a quite a while. Maybe it would be good for Lucy to see some hot flames once again, as Kira didn't mind the possibility of being anyone's source of inspiration, and any spells that Lucy derived from hers would probably create a powerful blaze.

Rogue was surprised to hear Kira mention the time that Lucy wanted to fight her in the park with Wind Magic, and Kira declined to fight because of how she wanted to only battle her newest friend when they were supposedly even in terms of strength. Even if Lucy could use different types of magic, one type of magic could just needed to make a battle be pretty good. Also, Kira wasn't really accustomed to friendly fights. She'd only battle a friend if they were in a surprising situation that called for it to happen, so that's another reason why she also refused to fight Lucy back then.

Hearing about Kira's goals in the tournament caused Rogue to kindly smile at her, understanding why she'd fight so hard, and the shadow dragon slayer had once wondered about what a match between Kira and Lucy would be like. He looked at his friend's hazel eyes for a moment, liking how they were so full of confidence, and Rogue even smiled from seeing a yellow butterfly calmly flutter through the air. The butterfly gently landed on the chest area of Kira's brown T-shirt, and Rogue gently used his left hand to grab it. What happened next, however, was interesting for his friendship with Kira.

"Rogue, do you have a habit of grabbing butterflies or are you trying to be flirty?" Kira asked him while blushing a bit as she smirked about how his hand gently brushed against her chest when he grabbed the butterfly.

He responded in a shocked manner, as he let the insect fly out of his palm, "I didn't intend for that to happen!"

Kira only giggled at his words, wondering if Rogue was trying to flirt with her, and she thought back to when he let her pretend to be a secretary while he had to fill out Sting's paperwork. Rogue never really minded Kira being around him, even if she was one of the quirkiest girls on Earthland, and she liked how he was so calm. Some innocent acts like grabbing a butterfly off of a girl's chest could be interpreted as flirty, however, and Kira was actually glad that Rogue didn't plan for anything perverted to transpire. He wasn't the type of guy to escalate a situation like that, anyway.

Rogue's cheeks were light pink from the situation while Kira was giggling, and he was surprised to see her gently put her right hand on the right side of his face. Kira rubbed it gently with her warm hand, making Rogue blush more, and Kira simply winked while she liked being playful with Rogue. They certainly had interesting chemistry in their friendship, and Rogue liked seeing Kira act pretty confident. The fact that she didn't even care about Fairy Tail currently being the best guild had made Rogue still feel surprised, but the determination in Kira's eyes showed him that she wasn't worried about battling anyone from that guild.

* * *

 **Ten minutes later, in the Sabertooth guild...**

Lucy and Minerva stood next to each other in the changing room for girls, still wearing their bikinis, and Lucy's blue spell book was on a gold bench that was behind one of the changing stalls. Her orange miniskirt and her black T-shirt were there as well, but Lucy was not just here to change her clothes. Minerva actually led her away from the heated pool for this private chat, since two other girls entered the pool area before they could even have some girl talk, and Lucy wondered what the first topic would be. Minerva could definitely make it be about anything, and Lucy looked down at the red carpet for a moment.

Minerva smiled at Lucy while she thought that it would be good for them to just have a casual conversation, as that would be a good way to get some info on Erza and the other mages from Fairy Tail, but she wouldn't bother the Celestial Spirit Wizard with questions about the abilities of her former friends. Minerva was actually hoping that Lucy would tell her about what the wizards in her former guild could do, as that would help Sabertooth develop a great strategy for the fifth day of the Grand Magic Games, and the woman with green eyes felt like this info would be useful to everyone.

"Lucy, do you ever contact Erza or your other friends from Fairy Tail?" Minerva calmly asked her while smiling, as she gently touched Lucy's blonde hair.

Lucy replied in a relaxed manner as she frowned at the mention of Erza's name, "I haven't talked to anyone from Fairy Tail in a while, but I'm not on good terms with Erza. I really liked Natsu for a long time, and I told him that I wanted to be his girlfriend. He was in love with Lisanna and rejected me, but Erza knew about it for months. If she really was my friend, she would've told me months earlier that I had no chance of getting with Natsu."

This news made Minerva smirk for a moment, feeling like she wanted to find Erza and laugh at her for this, and Minerva honestly felt like there was so much irony involved with Erza letting Lucy experience the feeling of rejection like a fool. During their fight on the fifth day of last year's Grand Magic Games, Erza had fiercely told Minerva that she'd give her payback for how she hurt Lucy and Kagura. In this situation where Lucy got rejected, it looked like Erza was the one who hurt one of her friends. Minerva may have been sadistic, but she'd never betray a close friend.

In fact, Minerva wasn't even planning to betray Sting when she was keeping Lector from him. She only wanted him to use the power of his feelings for Lector to help Sabertooth win the Grand Magic Games, and the black-haired woman would've kept her promise to reunite them. If Rufus liked a woman and Minerva found out that she was in love with someone else, then she wouldn't wait months to tell him. After all, it was pretty bad for someone to let their friends have high amounts of affectionate feelings for someone who wouldn't return them.

Even though Lucy was dating Sting and she moved on from Natsu, she thought about how rent was still paid to her apartment in Magnolia Town. Lucy still lived there, but Erza never even showed up at her doorstep to give her the apology that couldn't be given when Lucy was trying to meet up with Sting for their first date. If Erza really wanted to be Lucy's friend, then she could've showed up a few days later to try apologizing again. She didn't do that, however, and having several weeks pass without getting an apology made Lucy feel like Erza didn't care enough to apologize.

Minerva decided to bring up Lucy's fight against Clair, smiling as she said that it was amazing for someone to survive a battle against that tough princess who could send people to their watery graves, but she did frown somewhat from hearing Lucy say that her recent battle with Kyouji made up for the loss against Clair. Minerva smirked as she informed Lucy that it was an amazing feat to battle Clair, and Erza probably would've lost easily. Since Lucy survived, Minerva felt like she must've been pretty skilled and Fairy Tail would simply live with the fact that they lost a valuable guild member.

"You know, Lucy, it would be nice for you to show off those Rainbow Crystals in the Grand Magic Games. Several mages have looked for them, myself included, but everyone would be surprised to see how far you come." Minerva explained to Lucy while putting her hands on the younger girl's shoulders, smiling confidently.

Lucy replied kindly while smiling, seeming somewhat embarrassed, "That would certainly be cool, but I feel like one more still needs to be found. I wouldn't want to try looking impressive when I don't have all the Rainbow Crystals."

Minerva felt like that was pretty understandable, and she actually wondered if there would be another Rainbow Crystal. It would certainly be exciting to hear that Lucy found it, if she ever did get it, but Minerva also wondered what would happen if someone found all the crystals. They became pretty popular because of the fashion designer named Samantha Kalos, and Minerva actually hoped to meet that woman someday. Stores that carried clothes with her brand name on them were said to get lots of traffic, and seeing commercials about her on Lacrima Vision screens in many towns made Minerva wonder how that woman was more famous than Sabertooth.

The guild didn't exactly have people who could compete with that woman in the fashion industry, and Sorcerer Magazine tended to be busy with news about her. Unlike mages from Sabertooth, Samantha would actually get photographed eating cake or even buying food from a concession stand. Being the second-best guild in Fiore wasn't fun to Minerva, since she even heard people in bars talking about how Sabertooth would lose, and some fashion designers even stated in magazines that they'd watch the tournament to just see the clothes that Fairy Tail's wizards would wear.

Speaking of Fairy Tail, though, Minerva simply gave Lucy a friendly hug for telling her that little tidbit of info about Erza. She felt like the scarlet-haired woman would try to look like a triumphant woman in any events that were like Pandemonium, as she would obviously be wanting to show Fairy Tail's great amount of strength, but Minerva could use Erza's mistake with breaking Lucy's trust as leverage against her. She certainly felt like the noble guild of Fairy Tail would look bad if one of the members was proven to be a person who stabbed a close friend in the back, and it would probably hurt Erza's morale if a large audience knew about what she did.

As Lucy walked to the changing stall where her clothes and book were located, Minerva simply walked away from her while feeling like it would be nice to get Lucy to talk about the other guild members. Getting lots of information on them would certainly help Minerva formulate a plan to make Fairy Tail no longer be Fiore's best guild, and she'd probably pay Lucy back for that by trying to find info on that next Rainbow Crystal. If there was a seventh crystal, though, it would probably be in a weird place like how the others were found in strange areas. The only leads that Minerva or anyone else could go on would just be rumors, however.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 25? Feel free to read and review.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **The Art of Dating & The Art of Training**

* * *

Lucy simply looked calm while she sat down at a table with Kira for breakfast, checking out an article in today's issue of the newspaper, and the two girls seemed to be interested in it. Well, Kira was actually more excited about this news. She could definitely inform Rogue about it, as he would probably want to check out something that was quite famous, and Kira wouldn't mind if Lucy also joined them for some fun. This cool event would only happen tomorrow, though, so Lucy could just use this day for her training. After all, she still needed to use the special move that involved the Cerulean Crystal.

The blue spell book was on a nearby chair while Lucy proceeded to look at it, and the blonde-haired girl wondered about her next set of spells. The purple crystal would cause Lucy to use Darkness Magic, a powerful type of magic that was actually feared by some guilds that couldn't fight against those dark attacks, but Lucy also hoped that it would not cause any chaos to occur. Some spells from the book were quite explosive while they could also decimate towns into piles of rubble, and Lucy was not intending to harm any innocent people in Shioru Town.

Even though that dark magic was insanely powerful, Lucy smiled a bit at the thought of her spells being really cool. She actually thought that Kyouji's spell involving the crescent moons looked pretty impressive, even though its actual effect was not shown, and Lucy felt curious about the spells that she would find in the spell book. Her mind was focused on training for the Grand Magic Games, really wanting to help Sabertooth become the best guild in Fiore again, and confidence began to fill her cocoa brown eyes. She was planning to fight hard for the guild, and Lucy's spells from all the Rainbow Crystals would probably help her succeed.

The thought of winning and holding the golden trophy caused Lucy to let out a cheer of satisfaction, and that prompted Kira to giggle happily. She assumed that was Lucy's response to the idea of checking out a museum's newest item that would be on display tomorrow, but Kira also felt that it wouldn't be fun if Sting didn't join them. It probably seemed like a double date for Lucy and Sting to go somewhere nice with Kira and Rogue, but the merchant and the shadow dragon slayer were just friends. Despite that, however, Kira would love being around Rogue.

"Hey, Lucy. Two days ago, Rogue's hand accidentally brushed against my chest when he tried to make a butterfly go away. I wonder if it's right to try and make that friendship slowly become something more." Kira explained to her friend with a playful expression on her face.

Lucy replied to Kira in a relaxed manner, smiling at her, "Well, it's good to take things slow. After all, that's how you two can really build some romantic chemistry."

Kira added while giving Lucy a teasing look, "Yeah, and we'll get to watch you share a slow kiss with Sting on our double date at the museum."

The red-haired merchant started to laugh in an amused manner at her remark while Lucy's cheeks began to blush red like cherries, and Kira soon heard Lucy say in a flustered manner that she wouldn't make out with her boyfriend in a museum. It would be somewhat rude to share blissful kisses on a museum tour, especially if other patrons became jealous, and Lucy didn't want to make anyone feel uncomfortable. She decided to drop the subject by focusing on the page, and Lucy was curious about the item that would be arriving at a certain town's museum.

Lucy seemed a bit surprised to find out that this item was known as the Astral Sculpture, something that was apparently created to look really nice, and she hadn't even bought a ticket for getting to see the sculpture. Kira didn't exactly get tickets in advance, either, and that was only because of how the creator of the statue wasn't exactly selling the tickets in their area of Fiore. Selling tickets in the town where the museum resided was obviously a good business move, but selling too many of them in just one place wouldn't attract lots of tourism.

Even though she wouldn't have a ticket, Kira still wanted to see the sculpture. Lucy liked how its description seemed pretty amazing, and she'd also want to see it tomorrow. Not being able to get in the museum was unfortunate, however, and the girls didn't exactly have special passes to get in. Even the wizards from Fairy Tail would be denied entry if they couldn't show their tickets, so it was quite a bummer. Still, Kira was determined to see this amazing piece of artwork. It looked really stunning in the newspaper article, and she didn't want to never see it.

Not getting to see the sculpture was actually possible, since the creator would only allow their famous artwork to be in that town for a single day, and the artist who made the sculpture was probably also wary of thieves wanting to steal the sculpture. Artwork could actually be sold by dark mages and thieves in the black markets of Fiore, fetching high amounts of jewels, and some dark mages themselves also doubled as great artists who would sell their work to make great profits. Lucy and Kira wouldn't be thinking about thieves, however, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard was curious about something.

"Kira, what if I ask Sting to get us inside? He is a well-known guild master, so how would they refuse him?" Lucy asked her with a happy smile on her face, as she was about to get up from the chair.

That made Kira respond in a somewhat unsure manner, putting her left fist under her chin, "It's a nice idea, but I don't think the museum's guards give special treatment to certain people."

Lucy felt disappointed about how it seemed like they wouldn't get to see the Astral Statue, and she got up from her chair to start some training. Fighting enemies on a job would be part of training, but none of the jobs on Sabertooth's request board were exciting enough for Lucy to take. Testing out that last spell of Water Magic would be her current priority for the day, as she wondered about what its effect would be, and Lucy walked over to the blue book. She calmly picked it up and walked away, leaving Kira at the table to think about her plans for the following day.

Simply going to the museum to ask about the fee for admittance would obviously allow her to get inside, since most museums in Fiore did have entry fees, and Kira thought about the idea of walking with the group of people who would have their sights set on seeing the Astral Sculpture. If she could sneak past a guard to see the sculpture, then her plan would probably work. Kira wasn't planning to be devious like a thief, but she'd just be sneaky for the chance to see the sculpture. She wasn't going to come up with any other plans for future events, and Kira simply smiled as she wondered if anyone else was making plans for the future.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Natsu and Lisanna sat down at the bar while Mira served them some delicious slices of chocolate cake, and the three wizards were all thinking about the Grand Magic Games. It would be pretty amazing for the Fairy Tail guild to win that tournament again, and Natsu had been feeling quite fired up about it. He would fight extremely hard for his guild, not wanting to let anyone down, and Natsu would also be sure to impress Lisanna during any matches where he would be fighting someone. After all, he liked showing off his fiery skills.

Mira giggled happily at the nice thought of how this would be Lisanna's first time as a participant in the Grand Magic Games, due to how Lucy left Fairy Tail, and the barmaid with white hair thought that her sister was quite strong. Mira wondered if people from the other guilds got stronger, particularly thinking that Jenny Realight from Blue Pegasus wouldn't improve very much, and she cutely giggled at the thought of enjoying the seven-day festival. Hopefully, this year's tournament would not have as much drama as the one from the previous year.

Lisanna used her fork to pick up a large piece of her sweet cake, before happily eating it, and she looked at Natsu for a moment. Her boyfriend had been training with all of his powerful moves, claiming that he wouldn't really need new ones for this year's Grand Magic Games, but Lisanna secretly felt like it would be bad for him to just have the same moves. Natsu confidently told her yesterday about how he could handle anything, having no need to make new techniques, and he even planned on defeating some people with just one fiery attack.

Being overconfident was never good, even if Fairy Tail was the best guild in Fiore, and Natsu couldn't afford to just shrug off how both of Fairy Tail's teams would be going up against some powerful competitors. Kagura Mikazuchi from the Mermaid Heel guild would obviously be a tough person to deal with, and Erza was the only one who really stood a chance against her. Natsu would probably get destroyed by Kagura in a battle, but he wasn't really worried about fighting anyone from Sabertooth. After all, he did defeat Sting and Rogue by himself.

"Lisanna, I'm so fired up for the Grand Magic Games! We won't lose to Sabertooth or anyone else." Natsu told his girlfriend as he looked quite psyched up.

The mage with cute blue eyes responded nicely, seeming a bit nervous, "Well, Natsu, we shouldn't jinx that on our guild."

Mira added kindly as she smiled, "Yes, we don't want to end up having more losses."

Natsu looked quite curious at Mira's words, wondering how the best guild in Fiore was having losses, and Mirajane brought up how she was going through the records of former mages in the resource room of Fairy Hills. One of her former friends had left the guild three days before Lucy joined Fairy Tail, mainly because of how she didn't follow certain rules, and Mira had been surprised to see her face once again when she was checking out the files. It always felt somewhat sad to know that some people would never return to Fairy Tail, and being on Tenrou Island for seven long years made Mira wonder if that person was even still alive.

Mira remembered how that certain girl liked doing jobs, but she didn't exactly have manners when S-Class trials were involved. During the S-Class trial that took place a year before Lucy joined the guild, Mira's old friend had ditched her weak teammates to find the correct path inside of the volcanic caves of Emblaze Island's volcano. She left them there while they were exhausted, and Mira had been the person who found them starving as they sweated profusely from being near boiling magma. Their teammate with an attitude had gotten to the top of the volcano first, but Makarov gave her the karmic consequence of disqualification.

That trial may have occurred before Kasai Town was even built, but the other wizards who were participating at the time got to see that this certain girl abandoned her teammates to obtain victory. That was certainly selfish, and Mira had been the one who was forced to make her go back to the boat when she would not just accept that the team was disqualified. Mira's former friend did have some powerful magic, though, and it actually had been a shame to see her leave the guild later on. Mira had told her on that final day about how being a mage would involve lots of fun, even if her friend hadn't liked many jobs that she was forced to take, and Mira remembered seeing the girl walk away as she calmly stated that finding her own career would be better for her life.

Natsu and Lisanna watched Mira have some disappointment in her eyes about how Fairy Tail wasn't liked by everyone, and the people who left it would definitely try to make their lives better. That particular girl with an attitude, however, was someone who Mira worried about for an entire year. Even though those concerns weren't shown to the other guild members, Mira wondered what became of her former friend. She wondered if the female delinquent had found a legal job that she'd like to have as a career, and Mira also hoped that a dark guild didn't recruit her.

"Mira-nee, don't worry. Even when people leave this guild, they are not gone forever. Wherever your friend is, she may be pursuing her aspirations." Lisanna told her older sister with a comforting smile on her face.

Natsu added in a calm manner, frowning a bit, "I wasn't there when the trial happened, and I must've never paid much attention to that girl. If she didn't like being in a guild, though, then that's her choice."

Mira recalled how she was nice to that girl, and hearing that she was this person's first friend had made Mira feel pretty happy. It was always good for a person to make friends, as friendships were far better than conflicts, but Mira felt like their friendship ended when she had to be the one to sternly justify Makarov's reason for disqualifying this girl from the S-Class trial. Getting kicked out on the first part of the trial was certainly a bummer, especially since two other people had to be punished for their teammate's selfishness and impatience, but seeing a friend leave was more saddening.

Mira had to uphold the rules of the S-Class trial, or it wouldn't have been fair to other teams that had to make their way through the volcano. Dragging her friend down the volcano's safe trail to put her on the boat was something that Mira didn't want to do, but recalling her former friend repeatedly yell about how she wouldn't leave the area that was for successful teams caused Makarov to make Mira handle the matter. Mirajane didn't hesitate whatsoever, not minding how the girl kicked and screamed like an immature person as she dragged her down the path, and their friendship had been strained enough to where it was broken like a vase that shattered when it would be thrown on to a wooden boat.

* * *

 **20 minutes later, in the park...**

Lucy narrowed her eyes while she stood near a fountain of water, focusing her magical power into this move, and she was also thankful that no one was around to get hurt. Lucy exhaled a soft breath while looking down at the words of blue text in the book, wondering about what this spell could do, and she also made sure to look at the description of the pose that she'd have to do. This last spell of Water Magic was sure to be a powerful one, possibly scarier than a tsunami, but Lucy would not hesitate to use it. She may have looked stern, but she was feeling pretty confident as well.

As Lucy held the blue spell book in her right hand, she wasted no time with using the spell known as Aqua Cloud. Even though this spell was supposed to make a blue cloud of rain appear above the ground to create some puddles, Lucy put the blue book down on some grass that wasn't wet. She followed the book's instructions that had informed her to move her hands in a slow manner that was wavy, acting as if she was trying to make waves, and Lucy pulled out the Cerulean Crystal from the left pocket of her red skirt to see the blue item begin to glow. The C-Power of the Cerulean Crystal was activating, but what would the spell be like?

"I call upon thee, Watery Implosion!" Lucy shouted fiercely while holding the blue crystal, watching it continue to glow.

In a few seconds, seven blue bubbles of water rose up from the fountain. Lucy looked somewhat puzzled, thinking that this spell must've not been epic, but she was soon proven wrong by the sight of the fountain's water rising up to make the bubbles become larger. The projectiles began to fly up into the air while they went from being a normal shade of blue to having a cerulean color, and Lucy began to look amazed at what was happening. More water rose up to make the bubbles grow in size, watching them become as large as one of Natsu's fireballs, but what happened next was quite crazy.

The seven bubbles were floating slowly in midair while the one in the middle began to pull two other bubbles towards it. This Water Magic was quite powerful, as the bubbles merged with the other one to create a bubble that was even larger, and Lucy watched this process repeat itself two more times. She could sense the high amount of power in this move, being just as strong as any of the other special moves that were involved with the Rainbow Crystals, and Lucy gasped in awe when she witnessed something that was very interesting.

When three yellow butterflies ended up flying into the extremely large bubble, they were quickly ousted by a smaller bubble that detached itself from the larger one while it contained them. The butterflies attempted to escape, only to slam into the bubble's water like it was a dense wall, and that made Lucy comically drop her jaw as she realized the spell's second effect. If the bubble was large enough, it could entrap opponents and make them be incapable of attacking Lucy. Unless the enemies could manipulate water, this spell was pretty good to use.

Lucy looked at her right hand for a moment, and she snapped her fingers. This prompted the bubbles to quickly fall down to the ground like they were large anvils, and Lucy got to see two massive cerulean blue blasts of Water Magic occur! Lucy watched the final effect of her spell transpire, but it wasn't anything she liked. Lucy watched the water from her bubbles rise up over the fountain, before it all crashed down on her like a tidal wave, and Lucy's yellow T-shirt was soaking wet. The water ended up knocking her down while it crashed loudly, and Lucy began to sit up as she heard some familiar footsteps coming.

Sting exclaimed in a shocked manner as the blasts faded away, revealing some large craters that were around the fountain, "Whoa, that's some impressive strength! Still, Lucy, it looks like you just got drenched in the spell's awesomeness!"

Lucy replied as she smiled softly while getting up, her clothes soaked, "Well, I wasn't exactly planning to have a second shower this morning. At least you're not mad."

Sting and Lucy smiled happily at each other while they were about to share a kiss, but they were interrupted by the sight of Rufus Lohr exiting from a coffee shop to use his Memory-Make Magic on the park. He would restore the park to its original state, but all of the water from Lucy's spell began to go down into the ground like it had encountered a drain. That was an unfortunate side effect of the spell, but it only would occur if Lucy didn't react fast enough with unleashing other spells of Water Magic. If she immediately used another spell, the water would stick around. If she got distracted by water knocking her down to where she couldn't hastily react, then the water would go away. (I know that sounds somewhat unfair, but an extremely powerful spell always needs some kind of drawback.)

Lucy walked over to the empty fountain for a moment as she thought about the spell as she picked up her book, starting to smile more at the thought of how it would be great for the Grand Magic Games, and she placed the blue spell book on the white fountain's bottom ledge. The book itself was strangely dry like it never touched the water, and none of the pages had gotten wet. The Cerulean Crystal was still in Lucy's left hand while it continued to glow, and Lucy remembered how it could absorb water. It actually made all the water around the book rise up when Lucy wasn't looking, and the crystal took in that water while its cerulean glow had the power to make the book be perfectly dry.

The Rainbow Crystals certainly were the strangest items on Earthland, and Lucy remembered seeing Minerva in Sabertooth's library yesterday. She must've been looking for info on that last crystal, as Lucy wondered about if it truly existed, and most people in the Sabertooth guild liked helping each other out. Minerva may have only been helping Lucy to make Sabertooth become a stronger guild, but any kind of assistance would help Sabertooth thrive. Sting began to talk about how Lucy's spell would be very fun to use in a water park, aside from its drawback, and that made Lucy widen her brown eyes for a moment.

Sting was talking about having fun, and Kira also wanted to have some fun with seeing the Astral Sculpture. She'd probably bring along a camera for Rogue to hold as she would pose with the sculpture, but Lucy liked the thought of seeing her friends enjoying themselves at a museum. That prompted her to walk back towards Sting while giving him a happy smile, and Lucy hoped that there was some way for them to see the famous work of art without getting hauled away by security guards. She kept walking towards Sting while hoping he'd join them for the fun, but what exactly would he say?

"Listen, Sting. Kira wants me to go see this Astral Statue at a museum with her and Rogue tomorrow. I was wondering if you wanted to come along. Even if you feel like it would be boring, we wouldn't even be able to see the statue because we don't have tickets. Kira probably has a way to sneak in, but-" Lucy explained to Sting in a calm manner, before being cut off by him.

Sting exclaimed in a confident manner, thinking that he'd get to enjoy a nice fight, "Lucy, we don't even have to see the statue! Whenever there's big artwork that gets featured in the newspaper, dark wizards will come to steal it. We'll get to beat them all!"

Lucy told Sting in a curious tone as she giggled, "Sting, that's just crazy. I really doubt anyone would steal a giant sculpture. They wouldn't be able to fit it into the train without it possibly getting damaged. If that happened, it would be worthless. Just as we saw in Mumargi Town, dark wizards aren't exactly stupid."

Sting watched Lucy turn around to walk back towards the blue book that was on the fountain's ledge, and the light dragon slayer simply smiled at Lucy's doubt. She probably hadn't gone on any missions where artwork was nearly stolen, but Sting did have to stop a few art thieves last year. Still, he actually did have to wonder if anyone would seriously steal a sculpture. If it was more enormous than how it looked in the newspaper, then it probably would be valuable. If the artwork was small in size, however, then it probably wouldn't sell for lots of money. That was Sting's assumption, anyway.

Lucy went back towards the book while she put the Cerulean Crystal back into her skirt's left pocket, and Lucy looked down at her green flat shoes for a moment. She decided to pull out the Requiem Crystal, and Lucy gently placed it on the book. After about six seconds had passed, the Requiem Crystal let out a violet glow. Purple beams of light went down into the book, filling it with some spells of Darkness Magic, and the book began to shine in accord with the purple crystal. The book itself soon changed from being blue to being purple, and the book gave Lucy a somewhat eerie feeling when she touched it with her right hand. Lucy ignored that feeling for a moment, however, and she happily decided to race Sting back to the Sabertooth guild.

* * *

 **Two hours later, on a train...**

Two women sat down in their seats on the train that was headed to the town of Hoshizora, one woman having a pink electric guitar in the seat next to her while she looked bored, and the one who wore glasses with pink frames had a large black briefcase next to her. These women were going to the town together while they were both different kinds of artists, and the woman who was slightly younger simply scowled as she did not like the current job of helping her friend protect what was in the briefcase. Being in a rock band was her aspiration, but she unfortunately never found anyone who could help her make some good music.

The younger woman was the rocker known as Minami Taikou, and she wore a black leather jacket with some black leather pants to match. Her leather boots were surprisingly pink like her guitar, and Minami's long hair was also pink while her eyes were emerald green. She gently made the fingers of her right hand tap the armchair of her seat in a rhythm while feeling very bored, and the pink-haired guitarist frowned at the woman who sat across from her. Handling the job of guarding a sculpture was boring for her, and the woman in the other chair frowned back at her.

"Minami, you're such a punk. You know that I asked you to protect the Astral Sculpture, until we're done with its museum tour around Fiore." The other woman told her in a calm tone as she frowned, before sighing at how Minami looked like she wanted to ignore her.

The rude guitarist responded sternly, "You told me that the town was artistic, and there would be other musicians for me to chat with. If I wanted to babysit a piece of artwork, I would've kept being a mage in a guild for the past eight years. Guarding stupid artwork is such a kid's job."

That prompted the other woman to tell her in a stern tone of voice, as she reached over with her right hand to stop Minami's right hand from tapping, "This artwork is very precious to me, and I won't let you belittle it. Art is something that can make people feel emotions, and it can be inspiring. You should be proud to be protecting it."

The woman who cared so much about artwork such as sculptures and paintings was known as Kiriko Minegishi, an artist who was well-known in Fiore for showing off her various forms of artwork at museums, and she had her short orange hair in a bob style while she also wore a blue sundress with a cute white hat to match. She gently adjusted her glasses, before folding her arms, and Kiriko looked down at her red flat shoes. Handling museum jobs with Minami was certainly tough, as the guitarist thought that never seeing any danger in a museum meant that these tasks were for kids, and Kiriko wanted her to feel proud about art.

Minami herself was a musician who knew that any songs of rock music she made were part of her artistic aspirations, but she ironically thought that Kiriko's forms of art were a waste of time. Seeing statues of art in museums was boring to her, as she felt like nothing could even result from seeing pieces of clay or other materials be on display, but Kiriko would always remind her about how art could be the perfect inspiration for people to do things. She once brought up how a painting of ocean waves could motivate someone to learn Water Magic, but Minami showed no interest in that.

The guitarist would even state that her Heavenly Body Magic was much better, as it was pretty powerful, and that actually caused Kiriko to make Minami be the one who mainly created the Astral Sculpture. She had mainly just been the supervisor while telling Minami to work hard on it, and Kiriko wouldn't let the younger female create anything that looked idiotic. Months of patience and teaching had been the keys to Minami making this nice sculpture for Kiriko, and she just wanted the job to be done. After all, riding a train for several hours wasn't very exciting.

Kiriko calmly told Minami that she'd also need to protect the sculpture from any klutzy people who would accidentally break it, and Minami narrowed her eyes as she stated that it would be impossible for anyone to get past her. She was quite a tough person who thought that it was going to be very easy to handle civilians, and Minami had no issue with the possibility of wizards showing up to cause trouble. She felt like it would be easy to beat up anyone who wanted to steal or destroy the artwork, but Minami still acted like guarding a sculpture was incredibly hard.

It wasn't something that she wanted to do, since working on her music career would be much better, and Minami wondered if her life would've been better from not meeting Kiriko. They sometimes ran into each other in the lively town of Hyakkoku where they lived with other types of artists and performers, but at least working with Kiriko was better than dealing with the psychics who resided in the town. As Minami put her left hand under her chin and thought about how this task was pretty stupid, she also thought about how getting disqualified from an S-Class trial several years ago was something just as frustrating that could be strange inspiration for a popular rock song.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 26? Feel free to read and review. Also, to a certain person who messaged me. Don't worry. The Grand Magic Games will happen soon.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Passionate Mages and Punkish Musicians, Part 1**

* * *

Sting and Lucy were in the guildhall while they stood next to the request board, and they were waiting for Kira and Rogue to finish their breakfast. The group was going to ride on a train to the town of Hoshizora, the place that had been mentioned in yesterday's article about the Astral Sculpture, and Lucy happily smiled at the thought of seeing the sculpture. She imagined it to be quite grand, hoping that it would be much larger than its picture in the newspaper, and Lucy wondered about the sculpture's color as well. If it was made from real gold, that would certainly be impressive.

Even though they wouldn't be able to get into the museum, Lucy felt like she could at least get to see the fantastic piece of artwork when it was being carried out of the museum. Getting to observe art even for a few seconds could be enjoyable, and this was a nice activity for the group to do. After taking so many jobs that ranged from being extremely easy to being very tough, it felt nice to have another peaceful day. There would probably be other events taking place in Hoshizora Town as well, so the group would get to have some great fun.

Sting smiled at Lucy as he began to chuckle, feeling pretty excited about this next adventure, and the light dragon slayer thought about how good it would be to find some thieves who wanted to steal the artwork. He thought about how a great event in the newspaper would make different types of people come from Fiore, and that included thieves. If the museum had an alarm system that went off, then the protagonists from Sabertooth could gladly be allowed in to handle the crooks. After all, rules about denying entry would be far less important than fancy art.

He also wondered about why the museums never had paintings of him posing in a cool manner, and Sting narrowed his eyes at the assumption of how the museum's curators couldn't see that artwork of him would be the greatest art in Fiore. The curators were actually quite picky on what pieces of artwork were allowed to be displayed, and they would even refuse to have paintings of Natsu using his Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. To them, seeing someone use a type of magic was less interesting than just seeing the magic itself in the portraits.

"Do you think that the people working at the museum will act like snobs?" Sting asked Lucy in a calm manner while he began to look at her outfit.

Lucy responded kindly as she giggled at his question, "If they act very rude to us, then we can just say that a good guild like Sabertooth won't recommend that museum as a fun place."

Sting liked how Lucy wore a pink midriff shirt with some yellow jean shorts, and her flat shoes were orange. She had purchased another hat from Sabertooth's clothing store, and it was a red top hat that really complimented her outfit. He told Lucy how she always looked very cute, prompting her cheeks to blush light pink, and Sting gave her a nice kiss on her left cheek. Their relationship was certainly nice like a beautiful painting of flowers, and Sting would probably take Lucy to the area where paintings were located. After all, they lacked the tickets for seeing the sculpture.

Lucy walked over to the request board for a moment to see if there were any jobs for the group to handle later in the day, and she felt like it would be good to have some extra cash. Lucy actually had a small bag of twenty-thousand jewels in the left pocket of her shorts while her Rainbow Crystals were in the right pocket, but she still felt like it would be necessary to have more money. There were more items from the clothing store that she really wanted to purchase, and shopping sprees were just as fun as seeing a magnificent work of art.

Her cocoa brown eyes took notice of a pink flyer that talked about the town of Hoshizora, and the job required someone to replace the museum guard who vanished overnight. Apparently, he was nowhere to be found when the museum opened at 7 o'clock in the morning and the only thing left in front of the museum's entrance doors was a bottle of alcohol. Perhaps he was drinking while being on the job, and he must've been too drunk to get up for work. Lucy decided to unpin the flyer from the board, and her eyes twinkled from how the reward was seventy-thousand jewels.

That made Lucy feel quite happy, as she would be able to pay her apartment's rent for this month, and she would also show the flyer to Kira and Rogue. Lucy glanced over at their table to see that the duo had finished their plates of blueberry pancakes while they also looked quite happy, and Kira was the first one to get up from the table. She gave Lucy an excited look as she walked towards her and Sting, totally ready for the train ride to Hoshizora, and Rogue also got up from the table. The group was now ready to go, but Lucy was curious about something.

"Rogue, where are Frosch and Lector?" Lucy asked the shadow dragon slayer while she nicely smiled.

Kira spoke for Rogue in a relaxed manner, before making a snarky remark, "They went out on a job with Minerva to get some fish. She always has to buy some, since her fishing skills are horribly below average."

Rogue commented in a calm manner, thinking about how he and Sting would get motion sickness on the train, "Let's just go endure the long train ride."

The four mages proceeded to walk out of the Sabertooth guild while they would head to the train station, hoping to see the sculpture in Hoshizora Town, and Lucy thought about the flyer that was currently in her left hand. If the museum didn't have a guard at the entrance right now, then the protagonists could easily enter the museum. After all, a guard's job did not just involve standing outside of the museum. If any criminals got inside, wouldn't the guard have to chase after them and keep all of the valuable artwork from being defaced or stolen?

Lucy also imagined the Astral Sculpture to be a great figure that everyone would enjoy seeing, thinking that it would look more amazing than the king's castle in the town of Crocus, and she would certainly share the news about the guard's absence with Kira. Lucy felt like she could definitely handle this job, as she was strong enough to keep people from shoving her aside, but she would let Kira get into the Astral Sculpture's room without having to pay any fees. Kira and the others could get in there to do official mage business, since that was allowed, but not everyone would be comfortable around mages.

* * *

 **Two hours later, in Hoshizora Town...**

Minami sat down on the museum's top step while Kiriko stood in front of the woman she perceived to be the museum's curator, and the Astral Sculpture was inside the black briefcase. The pink-haired guitarist looked quite bored as she heard the curator nicely welcome Kiriko to the museum, and she also asked the famous artist if she enjoyed staying at the inn last night. Kiriko simply replied that she did, and then she turned around to hear Minami loudly sigh in an uninterested manner. That actually made the curator laugh, but Kiriko didn't find it to be funny.

She felt frustrated at how Minami spent the entire morning with the task of training to make her Heavenly Body Magic be stronger, not even seeming like she cared about the artwork that she had to protect, and Kiriko put her left hand's index finger to her lips as she thought about a way to motivate the younger female. If Minami didn't want to spend hours guarding a sculpture, then she could do something else in town to pass the time. Kiriko began to smile confidently as she pulled out her black wallet from the right pocket of her blue dress, and the high amount of jewels in that wallet was quite impressive.

"Minami, I need you to do something." Kiriko told her in a calm tone as she turned around to face her.

The guitarist responded in an annoyed manner, hoping she wouldn't have to carry the sculpture up several flights of stairs, "What is it now, Kiriko?! Why can't you let me relax?!"

Kiriko explained sternly while handing Minami the black wallet, "Don't use that tone with me, you punk. I simply want you to buy us some lunch to eat. There's plenty of money, and there's many restaurants. Buy as much food as you want, and I don't really care what you get for me."

Minami was about to talk about the large amount of money in the wallet, but a loud growl of hunger from her stomach kept her from saying anything. The aspiring rocker walked down the stairs with the wallet while preparing to check out many restaurants, and getting her away from the conversation was actually good for Kiriko. She didn't want the younger girl to give her rude input on art in museums, as she'd probably say that a painting wasn't amazing like rock music, and any rants from her mouth would just make Kiriko feel embarrassed.

The professional artist simply looked around to see that the museum's guards were nowhere to be found, causing her eyes to be narrowed for a moment, and Kiriko simply accepted the fact that this girl with long brown hair and blue eyes was the curator. She simply wore a dark red jacket with a white undershirt underneath it, and this female also wore a green skirt. Her jacket also had three yellow buttons on the bottom of it, and this girl also had a red bow on her jacket as well. Her dress shoes were black, and her outfit appeared to really resemble a school uniform.

The curator gently pushed open the museum's front doors to let Kiriko in, and the artist picked up the briefcase with her right hand while she proceeded to go inside the museum. Kiriko watched the female curator enter into the museum as well, and the two women began walking to the room where the sculpture would be on display. The museum's entrance had paths to four different galleries, as well as having a second floor for the observatory, and there were also some stairs that led down to the basement of the museum.

Kiriko glanced at the path that led to the section where fossils were located, and she sighed lightly upon not seeing a single patron. The museum always opened at 7 o'clock in the morning, and the current time was 11:30 in the morning. Kiriko knew that Minami sold all of the tickets to people in Hoshizora and other towns that were nearby, so why weren't people checking out the other exhibits if they didn't have tickets? The museum was filled with many different attractions, even having a section for people to look at various kinds of fish, so it had been really odd for no one to be around.

"Where are the other employees?" Kiriko asked curiously, adjusting her glasses while she frowned.

The female curator responded kindly as she smiled, "My co-workers are in the lounge that's in the art gallery's other section. We should probably stop by there, and I'll introduce you to everyone."

As Kiriko happily agreed to that, the brown-haired female looked down at the briefcase. Her eyes looked quite focused, intent on seeing the sculpture, and this girl was simply known as Yukata Tsuchiya. She was actually one of the elusive art thieves who always managed to flee from anyone who tried to capture her, and Yukata had come to the museum with one other person. In fact, she was quite glad that her thieving friend picked this museum for their latest heist. Yukata felt like it would be good to also steal some jewelry, but her friend had no need for gems.

The girl who Yukata was mainly partnered with had been known as a powerful art thief, but she was also a treasure hunter who would stop at nothing to get her hands on riches. Yukata's friend was known for stealing some of the best artwork from museums, and those pieces of art were sold in the black market for extremely high amounts of money. To the art thieves, paintings and sculptures were nothing more than tools that could assist them with getting rich. Some artifacts could even be tied to greater treasures, so they were merely useful for getting loads of cash.

Yukata's friend tended to share Minami's rude views on how every museum's art was boring, thinking that it was just made for the purpose of being stolen, but it was really immature to belittle fine art. The artists who made paintings and sculptures were probably very passionate, putting all of their passion and creativity into making such great works of art, and anyone with artistic aspirations needed to appreciate the beauty of artwork in a museum. Music was a great form of art, but it wasn't really the sole type of art that could make someone express emotions or feel inspired to do something.

Kirko narrowed her eyes as she walked down the path that led to the basement, not minding how the red carpet matched the coffee brown walls, and she watched Yukata walk beside her. The two women began to walk somewhat faster, going down the stairs that led into darkness, and Kiriko asked Yukata about why she was not taking her to the actual art gallery. The curator sadly told Kiriko that there wasn't a podium reserved for the Astral Sculpture in the art gallery, and it was special enough to be down in the basement's room for amazing art. Kiriko really hoped that Yukata and her friends were just some delinquents pulling a prank, and she also hoped that Minami wouldn't take too long with buying lunch.

* * *

 **One hour later, in a grassy park...**

After the train stopped at Hoshizora Town's train station, Kira had exited the train with Sting and Rogue while she decided to walk over to a nearby tree with the dragon slayers. They could go to the museum afterwards, and the mages could also go get some food to eat. Lucy had let Kira know that she'd go buy some food for everyone, so they could just continue to stay underneath the tree for a while. Kira didn't really have any preferences for what she'd enjoy eating in this town, so Lucy could purchase whatever she wanted to eat. The blonde-haired mage also planned on getting some sweets, too.

Lucy was currently walking towards a concession stand that was in the town's park, and she happily smiled at how there wasn't a long line to wait in. Only one person was purchasing food from the stand right now, and Lucy's eyes widened in amazement at the large brown bag of food that was next to the girl. She was surprised to hear the pink-haired female let out a huge belch as she purchased three boxes of food from the concession stand, and Lucy could see that the girl had a massive appetite. Although, she may have been saving some food for later.

As Lucy saw the girl put the three boxes of food in the bag, having all of her items neatly stacked, she proceeded to walk towards the concession stand. She would certainly wait for the girl in front of her to leave, but Lucy smiled softly from seeing her open one of the boxes that contained cakes shaped like fish. They looked incredibly delicious while they gave off the sweet scent of chocolate, and these cakes were actually filled with chocolate fudge that would be quite hot. Lucy watched the customer take one out of the box, and she wasted no time with stuffing it into her mouth.

Minami chewed on the sweet dessert while grinning joyfully, loving its sweet taste, and she wasn't going to share any of her yummy treats with Kiriko. This was some playful payback for making her endure a boring train ride, but Minami was nice enough to be intent on returning the black wallet to her. It may have felt thinner from having less money, but Kiriko did technically put herself in the position of letting Minami spend her cash. The pink-haired guitarist closed the white box that contained her cakes, feeling ready to go back to the museum, but the sight of Lucy looking at her had made Minami feel somewhat startled. Upon seeing the green Sabertooth mark on the back of Lucy's left hand, Minami could only narrow her eyes and face her with a cocky smirk.

"You're not clever at all, mage! If you're gonna sneak up on me, try to be more subtle!" Minami stated confidently as she ran towards Lucy at high speeds using Heavenly Body Magic on her feet, a pink aura surrounding her boots.

Lucy responded in a struggling manner, after Minami was quick to put her in a strong headlock, "I'm just a girl wanting to buy some food, and I wasn't planning on attacking you!"

Minami replied in a confident tone while she smirked, "Don't take me for a fool, mage! That mark on your hand is a dead giveaway to indicate you're a guild wizard! I'm not gonna let you take my food while your little partners come out of hiding to distract me!"

Even though Lucy was not even planning on taking any of Minami's food, that incident actually happened one day to the guitarist. She swore to never let that happen again, especially because of how it was such a cheap tactic that would only fool mages who had their guard down, and being a Fairy Tail wizard who had her picnic basket of sandwiches stolen by a dark mage on an important job was quite embarrassing for Minami's reputation. Her reason to be suspicious of Lucy was justified, but Lucy was also a wizard who fought against evil mages.

Lucy wasted no time with stretching her arms out behind her to wrap them around Minami's back, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard aggressively lifted up her opponent to throw her forward. Minami ended up landing on the ground while Lucy ran over to her purple spell book that was on a yellow park bench, but the female with emerald green eyes was quick with getting back on her feet. She quickly ran towards Lucy, who turned around just as fast, and Minami nearly hit Lucy with her right fist. Seeing Lucy dodge at the last second was frustrating, but there was no longer any distance between them for Lucy to really have some precious seconds for easy dodges.

Minami swung her left fist at Lucy while the pink aura of heavenly energy surrounded it, but Lucy managed to block Minami's punch with both of her hands. The mage from Sabertooth tried to push forward in an effort to make Minami slide backwards, but Kiriko's assistant pushed back against Lucy with the same amount of force. The two girls glared at each other for a moment, hoping that neither one of them was going to unleash a strong spell from their mouths, and they both stepped back. Minami looked at her bag of food for a moment, and then she turned back to face Lucy.

The fact that no one came out of the bushes to ambush her or steal the food meant that Lucy was telling the truth, and Minami could only give Lucy a sorry look. She only assumed that Lucy was someone who was going to attack her, but Lucy truly did just want some food. Minami sighed while knowing that she'd need to give Lucy a nice apology, or she'd get a harsh scolding about it from Kiriko. The fact that she took quite long with getting food was probably irksome enough for the orange-haired artist, but starting a fight would make Kiriko keep thinking that Minami was a disrespectful punk.

"I'm totally sorry about thinking that you were gonna hurt me. I'll give you some of my food, as a way of making up for that. My name's Minami Taikou, and I'd like to know yours." Minami told Lucy in a calm manner while she still looked pretty apologetic.

Lucy replied in a kind tone, accepting her apology, "I'll forgive you, Minami. My name is Lucy Heartfilia, and I came from Shioru Town with my friends to see the Astral Sculpture. It's supposed to be really amazing."

Minami asked Lucy with a somewhat surprised facial expression, "You seriously came all the way here to look at that sculpture?"

Even though Minami was quite surprised that people really had an interest in sculptures, she actually surprised Lucy even more by nicely saying that she brought it to Hoshizora Town while Kiriko just lectured her about it. Lucy's eyes actually twinkled in amazement from how she was talking to the person who carried the sculpture to the town's museum, and she felt quite happy from hearing Minami bring up how she also made the sculpture herself. Minami still felt like it was nothing to be hyped about, but Lucy was definitely excited to see it.

Lucy calmly asked Minami if she could see it early, since she took the job of guard duty at the museum, but Minami unfortunately gave her the news of how the famous artist known as Kiriko probably wouldn't allow her to just bend rules like that. Mentioning Kiriko's name actually caused Minami to run towards her bag of food while explaining that she had to get back to the museum and speak with the curator who weirdly wore a schoolgirl's uniform, and the pink-haired guitarist also wondered why her friend hadn't come out of the museum yet.

It did not take an entire hour to get a sculpture set up on a podium in a museum, since Minami didn't make it to be the world's largest sculpture, and Kiriko wouldn't have stuck around for a whole chat that lasted an hour. Minami grabbed the bag by its white handle, and she pulled it off the ground while proceeding to walk off. Lucy held the spell book in her right hand as she followed her, however, and she confidently smiled while mentioning that she'd come along. Not only did Lucy desire to see the sculpture, but she managed to sense that someone just used a high amount of magical power.

* * *

 **In the museum's basement...**

Kiriko had became quite stunned from seeing that this room in the basement was nothing more than a long hallway that looked like some dark ruins, and there were lit torches on the pillars while some paintings of artwork were on the walls. The actual workers at the museum never cared for these ruins, only using them to store artwork that they didn't want the public to see, and the basement was off-limits to civilians and wizards. Kiriko was surprised to see this room, but she was even more astounded by what had just happened.

The magical power that Lucy sensed earlier had come from a woman's spell of Heavenly Body Magic, and she had shot it out of her left hand as she stood in front of a circular pedestal that looked important. The powerful spell made a crater appear in front of Kiriko's feet, and the woman with the powerful magic had stepped out of the shadows to show Kiriko that she had pink hair like Minami. Although, her pink hair was styled into two pigtails that reached the middle of her back. This woman's eyes were cherry red like her skirt, and her dress shoes were lime green.

She wore a pink jacket that had four yellow buttons on it, and this woman also wore some black thigh-high length stockings as well. Kiriko watched this woman give her an evil smirk as her eyes shifted to the briefcase that contained the statue, and the orange-haired artist took some steps back as she looked quite scared. Minami wasn't here to help her escape with the Astral Statue, but Kiriko held the black briefcase in her hands while she thought about how this piece of art was incredibly precious. After lecturing Minami about protecting art, how could Kiriko possibly allow anyone to steal it?

As Kiriko attempted to run towards the basement's stairs, a pink aura soon engulfed her body. She soon became startled as her body began to levitate up from the ground, and Kiriko was suspended in midair while Yukata and her leader evilly laughed about the artist's predicament. This was surprisingly a psychic spell of Heavenly Body Magic that allowed its user to levitate an opponent while the aura would deplete their strength, and the art thief planned on exhausting Kiriko until the briefcase would slip out of her hands. The female thief had her left hand raised up at Kiriko, before making it become a clenched fist, and the aura's power clenched down on Kiriko with enough force to make her scream in agony.

"The sculpture... Why do you crooks even need it?" She asked the vicious thief in a stern tone, before wincing in pain.

The woman explained in a somewhat snobby tone, "Well, you're a famous artist who makes great sculptures and great paintings. I'll bring you closer to see exactly why we need it. After all, you can only blame yourself for how you designed it."

The thief who still wouldn't give her name had stretched her clenched fist forward, causing Kiriko to be sent flying forward, and then the evil woman simply lowered her fist down to her side. Kiriko harshly fell to the ground, but the woman with pink hair used her Heavenly Body Magic once again to keep the briefcase floating in midair. Kiriko walked past Yukata to see that the center of the stone pedestal had a hollow spot that was shaped like a star. This pedestal was something that Kiriko once heard about, and putting the star-shaped key in that spot would supposedly lead a person to great treasure.

At first, Kiriko felt like she could just tell the thieving women that they were wasting their time. There was absolutely no way that a star made by someone like Minami could actually fit perfectly into that hollow spot, but what if the star key had a way to send its power into the pedestal? Kiriko did recall how Minami went into some Astral Ruins that were near their hometown, going quite deep into a room of treasures, and Kiriko soon looked quite worried from remembering that Minami came back with just one item that looked pretty cute. Even though that item was nice, Kiriko hoped that Minami wouldn't be fully responsible for the success of the art thieves.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 27? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. I'd also like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! :)**


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Passionate Mages and Punkish Musicians, Part 2**

* * *

Lucy and Minami managed to get into the museum, running while the pink-haired guitarist felt like she really needed to find Kiriko, and the two girls soon reached the basement's entrance. Minami narrowed her emerald green eyes as she could sense someone's immense magical power down there, making her assume that Kiriko fell into the trap that was set by some thieves, and the rocker groaned in frustration as she began to walk down the stairs. Kiriko had instructed her to keep the sculpture safe, but she couldn't even keep herself from getting hurt.

Lucy walked down the stairs that led into darkness, staying by Minami's side, and she wondered about who that magical power belonged to. Minami hadn't exactly told her about any thieves showing up, but the guitarist herself assumed that this museum job would entirely lack excitement. She didn't think that the museum curator was actually a thief, and going off to get food for Kiriko was the perfect chance for that fake curator to be alone with the orange-haired artist. Minami could only continue to groan, since she'd probably get a heavy scolding for taking her own sweet time with getting lunch, but Lucy felt like any blunders could be fixed.

The two females were quick with reaching the basement floor, and they saw Kiriko turn around to give them a surprised look. The two art thieves also heard their feet touch the ground, and they were somewhat surprised to see another pair of women come down here. Yukata initially assumed that more art thieves were after the Astral Sculpture, but her friend who wore the cherry red skirt could only smirk at the fact that Lucy and Minami wasted no time with going into combative stances. They clearly weren't going to let the thieves just take the statue, so they'd have to battle for it.

Minami's eyes shifted to the black briefcase that was still suspended in midair by the pink aura of Heavenly Body Magic, and she could see that the leader of the two thieving girls could use it. Minami felt like it would be interesting to fight her, but she also thought that the thief could intentionally make the briefcase hit the ground with a harsh fall. That would break the sculpture, and the thief would probably do that as a mean-spirited move if Minami managed to beat her. As the protagonists walked towards the thieves, Minami also got a glimpse of the pedestal.

"I don't know what you thieves entirely want with the sculpture, but you're going down. I'll make you wish that you didn't come here to see it." Minami stated sternly to the thieves, before clenching her fists.

The pink-haired criminal responded in an amused manner, as she looked at Lucy and Minami, "You two must be Kiriko's bodyguards. You're pretty incompetent, if you leave her all alone just to get food. You both intend on defeating me, Chisato Touzoku, but you'll be sent to heaven very quickly. Also, don't advertise your fancy statue in a newspaper for everyone to see how it's valuable."

Kiriko asked Minami as she comically looked angry, "What the hell took you so long to get lunch, you punk?! Also, who is the girl that's next to you?"

Lucy calmly introduced herself to Kiriko, stating that she was a wizard from the Sabertooth guild who came to see the statue, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard turned her attention to Chisato while confidently saying aloud that her day would get more fun. After all, Lucy could feel that this wouldn't just be a fight to stop the thieves. She had a great feeling that something just as nice as the sculpture would be involved with the fight, hoping that the seventh Rainbow Crystal would be here, and Lucy seemed ready to fight. However, she felt like her hopes would have to be confirmed.

As Lucy opened up the purple spell book and grinned, she broke the situation's seriousness for a moment by calmly asking Chisato if she had a rhombus-shaped crystal. Lucy continued on by nicely asking her if she would ever hand it over to her, and Chisato nearly fell over in shock. She snobbishly stated that Lucy was obviously talking about those Rainbow Crystals that had gotten lots of attention, but she rudely said that it would be stupid to just hand a crystal to someone who didn't have the skills to earn it. Even though Chisato was calm enough to say she did not have one, Minami was shocked at Lucy's questions.

She was asking about an object that was shaped like a rhombus, something that the guitarist actually put into the Astral Sculpture, and Minami could guess that it was actually a Rainbow Crystal. She may have thought it was cute, but Minami would be willing to put it in the hands of someone who had experience with other Rainbow Crystals. With that being said, however, how could she involve it in this battle? Lucy most likely wouldn't fight her for it, since they were friends, but didn't Chisato have the briefcase levitating in midair right now?

Chisato was the one who Lucy would have to fight, and she wielded Heavenly Body Magic. That almost made her be like Minami's substitute, and both girls actually wielded some great spells that were filled with heavenly energy. Minami also remembered how she once took a job where she had to fight someone who was filling in for the leader of a dark guild, and that job during her days as a Fairy Tail mage was officially completed. Substitutes were allowed for battles, but they were really only meant to be used if the substitute and the original person wielded similar magic.

"I've actually got a nice idea. Lucy, you would've actually had to fight me for that crystal. However, I hereby appoint Chisato as my substitute for this battle. We use the same elemental magic, so it's completely legit. It would be the same as if a god slayer filled in for a dragon slayer who wielded the same element." Minami explained to Lucy with a clever smile on her face, before giving Kiriko a thumbs-up gesture to assure her that everything would be fine.

Lucy replied with a grin of confidence on her face, before looking down at the book's first spell of Darkness Magic, "I have no problem with that."

Chisato responded in a cocky manner, motioning Lucy to come towards her, "I'm fine with being the one who will make you become the museum's next piece of history. You'll be known as the girl who died in the museum's basement today."

Instead of charging in at Chisato, Lucy used her first spell of dark magic. It was known as Dark Reisu, and that spell simply caused Lucy to shoot out a purple ball of dark energy from her mouth. The ball quickly struck Chisato in the chest, before it created a miniature explosion, and its side effect made Chisato feel a harsh burn sizzle against her stomach. The burn mark was surprisingly purple, but the heat itself only lasted ten seconds. The burn could return if that spell hit Chisato again, though, so she couldn't be too comfortable.

Chisato retaliated with a move known as Heavenly Wave, and she slashed her right hand at the air to create a pink wave of energy. It headed straight for Lucy at high speeds, striking her directly, and a pink blast of Heavenly Body Magic occurred! Lucy screamed in pain, before the spell's power made her slide backwards, and something odd happened when she attempted to use Dark Reisu again. The space around the purple orb was filled with heavenly energy, twisting the Dark Reisu, and Lucy leaped back to watch her attack explode before her eyes. Not only did Darkness Magic have its tricks, but Heavenly Body Magic also had added effects of its own.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, outside the museum...**

Sting and Rogue had recovered enough of their energy to where they could walk and use magic, so Kira decided to take them to the museum. Seeing the Astral Sculpture would not be possible right now, however, and the trio would probably have to go check out the other exhibits. Sting actually thought about seeing some of the giant fish, as that would help him remember the names of the fish that looked appetizing enough to eat. Despite wanting to check out some exhibits, Sting's nose had alerted him to the fact that something was happening in the museum.

Sting could also sense that some people were using magical power, guessing that Lucy ended up fighting against someone who was attempting to steal art, and the light dragon slayer felt like it would be good to help Lucy with that fight. He also didn't want to be left out of a great fight, since he would enjoy beating up some enemies with his Holy Nova attack, but Sting still stood outside of the museum with Rogue and Kira. They both gave him looks of uncertainty, letting him know that they couldn't just rush into a fight, and Kira proceeded to turn her attention to Rogue.

"Rogue, we should be pretty careful. After all, you never know if Lucy's enemy could have allies hiding in the other areas of the museum." Kira stated calmly to him, as she looked at the museum's entrance doors.

The man with red eyes responded kindly, also thinking about the situation, "There may also be innocent people who are inside the museum, so we should definitely think about rescuing them first."

Sting told his friends in a confident manner while he began walking up the stairs, "Well, let's go give some merciless beatings to some art thieves!"

As Sting's walking speed quickly changed to where he began running, Kira simply ran up after him while Rogue ran by her side. The merchant who wielded Fire Magic was not only happy that she'd get to see the different exhibits with Rogue, but Kira also thought about how the museum's workers would be thanking the mages from Sabertooth for keeping their great works of art from being stolen. Getting some nice recognition before the Grand Magic Games would help Sabertooth not really be viewed as the biggest losers from last year's tournament, and it would certainly strengthen everyone's bonds.

Kira felt like it would be great for herself and Rogue to start by checking the art gallery for anything that looked suspicious, as thieves would probably deface paintings that they perceived to be stupid, and Kira also wanted to look at some nice artwork with Rogue. He was actually a fan of classical and modern art, liking how paint and different materials could be used to create art that was incredibly beautiful, and Kira would certainly love to hear his opinions on paintings or statues. After all, Rogue was quite a smart guy who could explain in detail about what made him love certain pieces of art.

Kira continued to run up the steps, going as fast as she could, but the fact that her left foot roughly touched the next step instead of going on to it was enough to shockingly stop her movement. Kira's right foot was on the second-last step, making her almost be at the top with Sting, but the girl with hazel eyes screamed for a moment as she was about to fall backwards. Falling down a flight of stairs could really make someone be seriously injured, and Kira definitely did not want to feel the pain of rolling down the stairs. She closed her eyes, hoping that her head wouldn't hit the stairs very hard, but let's just say that this fall would make something else rise.

The quirky girl soon felt Rogue put his arms around her waist, keeping her from falling, and the shadow dragon slayer also let Kira's left foot go up to the second-last step. He smiled while helping Kira fully regain her balance, and Rogue soon removed his arms from around Kira's waist. The merchant's cheeks blushed light pink from how Rogue held her tightly, being so caring, and Kira also liked how Rogue was quite fast with getting to her. He may have been on the other side of that step, but Rogue knew to move fast with keeping any of his teammates from getting hurt.

"Rogue, thank you for not letting me fall." Kira kindly told the black-haired male as she nicely smiled at him, her cheeks still being pink.

He replied in a calm tone, before chuckling, "You're welcome, Kira. Don't be so hasty with wanting to see some nice exhibits. The butterflies won't leave their trees."

Kira told him in a playful tone while looking into his eyes, "If some of them fly on to me, I hope you wouldn't let your hands have too much fun."

Rogue's cheeks actually became pink from Kira's comment, as she was clearly referencing the day where Rogue touched her chest when he attempted to grab a yellow butterfly, and he had began to wonder what he'd do if a cute butterfly did decide to gently rest on Kira. His eyes glanced at the brown khaki shorts that she was wearing, seeing her hips nicely sway back and forth as she walked up to the final step, and Rogue hoped that one of those butterflies would not decide to take a nice rest on her rear. After all, that would certainly make Rogue blush.

He wouldn't exactly slap the butterfly off of Kira, as that would probably make her hit him in the face with a slap that was infused with Fire Magic, and Rogue would probably just let the butterflies flutter through the air. Seeing Kira feel happy about the fish exhibits would probably make Rogue also feel happy, and the chemistry in their friendship could possibly be just as large as the amount of water in some of the huge fish tanks. Rogue wouldn't be so quick to rush their chemistry, however, and the shadow dragon slayer decided to just let things happen naturally.

Kira nearly falling was something natural that would happen to anyone, and she really liked it when Rogue caught her. That was certainly a nice little way to boost their chemistry, and Kira smiled as she felt like the favor would definitely have to be returned. After all, Rogue did deserve a nice little reward for preventing Kira from getting badly injured. Kira began to think about how she could thank Rogue, but her mind shifted to the museum when her hazel eyes caught sight of its entrance doors. Innocent people were probably in the museum, and they'd need to be evacuated out of the building.

Rogue was also going to help Kira with rescuing any civilians who were inside, as it was always bad for townspeople to get caught in a fight between wizards, and the male with black hair narrowed his eyes as he hoped that Lucy was okay. Rogue could strongly detect her scent while his enhanced hearing allowed him to hear that Lucy was in the museum with some other people, and he watched Sting hastily push open the entrance doors. Kira and Rogue were quick with getting inside and heading down the hallway to presumably reach the main art gallery, and Sting was going to try joining Lucy's fight.

* * *

 **Back in the basement...**

Lucy decided to activate her second spell that was known as Solemn Flame, and this spell caused a large purple flame to appear in front of the Celestial Spirit Wizard. She decided to touch it, causing the large flame to split into many smaller flames, and Lucy ordered them all to go straight towards Chisato. Lucy watched her flames move through the air at high speeds, preparing to bombard Chisato with their power, but Lucy's opponent was quick enough to dodge those flames by using her Heavenly Body Magic to slightly levitate in midair.

The purple explosions from the flames striking the ground were powerful enough for Chisato to actually be propelled high into the air, and that was perfect for her counterattack. Chisato unleashed a spell that looked somewhat similar to Jellal's Grand Chariot, but she only fired seven projectiles from her hands. They were pink while appearing to resemble meteorites, and Chisato closed her eyes for a moment while slowly moving her hands in a psychic manner. She was controlling the paths of the meteors, and it wouldn't be easy for Lucy to evade them.

Lucy watched the meteors fly straight towards her, before they all curved off into different directions, and her brown eyes attempted to keep track on each projectile. Chisato began to move her hands faster, causing her meteorites to get great boosts of speed, and Lucy was surprised to see one of the attacks strike her from behind! It made a pink blast of heavenly energy occur, before being followed by the other six projectiles that came down on Lucy, and Chisato smirked evilly from hearing her scream in agonizing pain. Not only were those attacks very powerful, but their secondary effect made a pink aura surround Chisato to charge up her energy.

Minami watched the pink clouds of smoke clear up to reveal that Lucy's skin was charred from those blasts while she was on her knees, and the pink-haired guitarist was quite surprised to see that Chisato's spells were similar to her own attacks. Minami looked quite concerned for Lucy while seeing her get up, but Lucy's eyes were filled with determination while she was not intending to lose this fight. Lucy panted heavily as she was pretty bruised up from that attack, but the sight of her purple flames still being on the field had given her some hope for winning.

"Do you really think you'll win? Aren't you going to just die soon, you loser?" Chisato asked Lucy in a snobby tone, before rudely laughing.

Lucy replied with a confident smile on her face, as she walked over to some flames and picked them up with her right hand, "I'm just getting started, and you'll be the one who loses."

Everyone was surprised to see Lucy eat the flames that were in her hand, consuming that Darkness Magic, and a purple aura began to engulf her body. Lucy gasped at the sight of this, and she simply hoped that it would help with her third spell. This new spell was called Crescent's Night, and it simply made a purple blade shaped like a crescent moon appear in Lucy's right hand. She wasted no time with throwing the blade up at Chisato, watching it begin to spin at incredibly rapid speeds, but something happened before Chisato could even react.

Three of the purple flames on the ground sprang up into the air, getting caught in the spinning air current of the blade, and the flames began to spin rapidly as well. The flames soon flung themselves towards Chisato, creating three violet explosions that were quite powerful, and the antagonist let out a pained scream as she harshly fell to the ground. Chisato was about to stand up, only to find that gravity was massively forcing itself down on her, and that was the secondary effect of Crescent's Night when it was used creatively. Not only could it attract the dark flames of a previous spell, but this spell could take the power of those flames and turn it into gravity that would force opponents to no longer be in the air.

Minami was quite surprised to see Lucy hit Chisato with that much fierceness, not thinking that someone could use their spells in ways that were incredibly unorthodox, and she merely folded her arms while proceeding to smile. Crescent's Night by itself was supposed to just slice through iron or large spells, if the latter was possible, but adding flames into the mix was Lucy's way of painting her nice comeback on the canvas that was the battlefield. She was getting ready to unleash her fourth spell, but Lucy would be merciful enough to see if Chisato could stand up again.

The antagonist clenched her fists tightly while growling in anger, saying that there was no way that a great thief such as herself would be stopped by a low-class mage from Sabertooth, and Chisato activated her next spell. It was named Heavenly Sirius, and this spell caused Chisato's eyes to become cherry pink as she began to smirk. Some pink auras began to appear in midair, simply floating in a slow manner as they took the shape of stars, and Chisato could control them with her psychic powers. There were seven stars in the air, looking rather simplistic, but Chisato sent her charged-up power into this move. What would its effects be?

"That's not going to stop us at all, and we'll-" Lucy stated in a stern tone as she ran towards Chisato, only to see one of the stars create a pink explosion.

Chisato replied in a condescending manner as she looked smug, her psychic energy creating another star, "You said that my attack wouldn't stop you, but there's no way you'll ever be able to touch me. This attack is quite a powerful barrier, and you should think about surrendering. After all, this is just my third spell. I could do worse to you, if you wish to continue."

Yukata told the protagonists in a calm tone as she giggled, pulling out a black dagger from the left pocket of her green skirt, "Let's heighten the stakes, girls. If you don't surrender, then we'll kill Kiriko. You want your precious sculpture, but the artist will be dead."

Upon seeing Yukata turn this into a hostage situation, Lucy could only narrow her brown eyes as she slightly stepped back. Yukata put Kiriko in a strong headlock that was quite painful, having the blade of the dagger a mere inch away from the skin of Kiriko's neck, and even using one spell to destroy all the stars would result in Kiriko losing her life. Lucy sighed as she looked down at the ground, wondering how she could beat Chisato and not make this situation end in tragedy, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard also wanted that Rainbow Crystal.

Minami turned to face Lucy while telling her that this was a really bad situation, as she would not be able to retrieve the sculpture, and she also began to face the ground while saying that they could just take the artwork. It seemed really meaningless in Minami's eyes, being art that she didn't even really care about, and the pink-haired guitarist felt like she would never be able to earn Kiriko's respect at any point in time. Surrendering may have been a very cowardly thing to do, but Minami didn't want Kiriko to die. As she was about to give a declaration of defeat, however, the fierce glare on Kiriko's face prevented her from speaking.

* * *

The orange-haired artist felt utterly appalled at the thought of Minami surrendering artwork to thieves, openly calling her a stupid fool, and Kiriko clenched her fists tightly as she glared at Minami. After all of the hours and passion that went into making the sculpture, Minami was really going to just let thieves take it because they had a hostage? In Kiriko's eyes, that was a very nonsensical thing to do. The artwork was incredibly precious to her, being more than just a sculpture, and something that was so precious did not deserve to be taken away by criminals.

Kiriko continued to glare at Minami, who was simply astounded by how she still wanted that artwork to be protected, and the guitarist felt like it was not worth losing Kiriko's life. There was no way that she could let Kiriko die for the sake of a sculpture, and Minami frustratingly stated that a sculpture could just be remade. That only prompted the woman with orange hair to glare at her with more intensity, feeling like Minami still did not understand how art needed to be appreciated just as much as music, and she decided to give her and Lucy a stern speech.

"Minami, you punk! Never say something so stupid ever again, and don't worry about my life at all! If these criminals get away with the sculpture, it will be sold for tons of gold in the black market and no one will ever be inspired by its beauty! Art makes people feel all kinds of emotions, and it's valuable!" Kiriko exclaimed angrily to Minami, as she startled Yukata by moving the dagger closer to her neck.

The female rocker replied in a worried tone, "I can't choose between the Astral Statue and you, though!"

"I gave you the job of protecting that statue, punk! Guarding artwork is a kid's job in your eyes, so you don't you dare try to make me think you're an idiot who can't do a kid's job! As for you, Lucy, you're a wizard! Don't worry about a barrier spell, since your confidence in this fight has made me assume that you've seen spells that were much tougher to deal with!" Kiriko sternly told the girls, not wanting them to give up.

Lucy sighed while thinking that there was no way for her to strike Chisato, but then she widened her eyes in amazement at that. There was no way for her to hit Chisato right now, but wouldn't she still be capable of striking everything else? Lucy kept looking down at the ground, mainly focusing on how Chisato would be using her telekinetic abilities to control the stars, and the powerful thief didn't seem like she could fire off multiple spells at one time. If that really was the case, then Lucy could take her time with tearing down that barrier in a creative way.

She activated her fourth spell of Darkness Magic, and it was simply known as Ruinous Hex. This move oddly caused a group of ten purple hands to rise up from the ground, passing through it while they appeared to be ghostly, and the hands all looked feminine while their long nails were purple. One of the hands quickly moved toward Chisato's barrier, before being struck by one of the stars, but the pink explosion that occurred was soon followed by the strange sound of something sizzling on the ground. What in the world had happened?

The clouds of smoke faded away to reveal that the explosion's crater was now filled with a purple substance that bubbled, and Chisato gasped in horror at the sight of another ghostly hand rising from the purple substance. That hand aggressively grabbed one of the stars, before pulling it down into the violet pool of what seemed to be acid, and an explosion could faintly be heard. This Darkness Magic was actually quite scary with its hexes, as this spell would make any obstacles or foes experience hell down in the darkness, and everyone was quite surprised to hear the sound of a woman's evil laughter echoing up from the crater of acid.

Dark magic was not exactly as innocent as Lucy's previous types of magic, as this type of magic was known for being used in bad ways by evil wizards, but Lucy was going to make this somewhat evil attack be used for a good purpose. After all, Chisato and her friend threatened to kill Kiriko. They were just as evil as this spell, and Chisato began to lose her focus from seeing another hand move away from the group to harshly slap a pink star. As another explosion occurred, Chisato looked quite frustrated while knowing that she'd also have to use her fourth spell. She actually liked using it, as that spell of Heavenly Body Magic was one of her favorites, but Chisato felt like she needed to send Lucy to heaven. She also didn't even care that Minami was now starting to smirk like she was ready to fight, and the guitarist was certainly ready to rock in this battle that was about to get even more awesome.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 28? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. I'd also like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! :)**


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Passionate Mages and Punkish Musicians, Part 3**

* * *

Chisato didn't seem concerned with the fact that Lucy and Minami were now giving her confident looks, showing the pink-haired antagonist that they were ready to make this battle be epic like a great guitar solo, and the protagonists watched Chisato unleash her fourth spell. It was simply known as Astral Beam, and Chisato fired this spell straight at Lucy. She smirked evilly while knowing that its effects could be quite dangerous, and the powerful thief would not let the ghostly hands on the battlefield prevent her from stealing the sculpture.

The pink beam was intercepted by four of the purple hands lining up in a row, but the beam merely pierced through them while it kept heading towards Lucy! She ended up getting caught in the blast while it sent Minami sliding back, and Lucy screamed in pain as she felt her legs become twisted. She opened her eyes for a moment to see her purple hands start to twist and bend crazily, as that was the secondary effect of Astral Beam, and Lucy screamed as she felt some of the bones in her legs twist while others began to get snapped. Her arms were damaged just as badly, being twisted up to where her muscles felt extreme pain, and this was definitely a tough fight.

As Chisato was about to activate her fifth spell, Minami went over to Lucy's side and placed her hands on her friend's stomach. A pink aura surrounded Minami's hands while she used a move called Heaven's Healing, and Minami smiled in an excited manner as the same pink aura began to engulf Lucy's body. Minami watched Lucy's body began to perfectly heal to where she could stand up, her arms and legs returning to their natural states, and Lucy felt totally revitalized by that move. She jumped up for a moment to see that she could jump somewhat higher, and that was a nice side effect.

Chisato was not intending to back down, and she would definitely make this fight be more intense. The antagonist decided to use her fifth spell, and it was known as Astral Punch. This spell was going to send the enemy flying while the heavenly energy would surround them, before viciously exploding, and it allowed Chisato to run at extremely high speeds. She was now going to fight Lucy directly with heavenly energy surrounding her right fist, as long-range combat didn't seem to be giving an advantage to either side, and it seemed like close combat would keep Lucy from being able to read any spells.

"You're about to lose against me, you dolt! There's no way that you can match my speed!" Chisato exclaimed to Lucy in an arrogant manner, as there was now little distance between them.

Lucy replied as she smiled confidently, springing up high at the last second while Minami went behind her, "You're absolutely right, Chisato. I may not be able to block you, but I can still jump! This is good preparation for the Grand Magic Games!"

Minami added as she confidently grinned, before headbutting Chisato quite harshly, "For someone who focuses with psychic powers, you should be able to foresee a distraction!"

Lucy smiled with the utmost confidence while watching Minami's headbutt make Chisato hold her head in pain like she was now having a migraine, and the blonde-haired girl unleashed her next spell of Darkness Magic. It was simply called Shadow Claw, and Lucy held the purple book in her right hand while her left hand temporarily turned into a purple claw that looked ghostly. The purple text in the book for this spell informed Lucy that she needed to slash down at her opponent, which she proceeded to do with a fierce amount of force, and something interesting occurred.

Chisato could only look up at her in an annoyed manner, wondering what Lucy just did, and the lower half of her pink jacket was suddenly slashed off! She felt three harsh slashes against her stomach, causing her to scream in agonizing pain, and blood trickled down from her wounds. Chisato put her right hand against her stomach to feel that these wounds were not only painful, but they were also quite hot. That spell of Darkness Magic had the same amount of heat that was wielded by the purple flames, and Chisato could only fall to her knees while seeing steam sizzle out of the wounds.

Yukata was quite amazed to see that Lucy was able to fight evenly with Chisato, as Heavenly Body Magic was always said to be pretty powerful, and the female with black hair could feel the immense power in the dark magic that Lucy wielded. She actually felt like stepping in to help Chisato fight against Minami and Lucy, but Yukata also felt like the slightest loss of her grip on Kiriko would allow the artist to try getting the Astral Sculpture back. Yukata could only watch the battle with an amazed facial expression, and she was certainly seeing the ferocious power of Sabertooth.

Kiriko also felt amazed to see the girls fighting so hard, and she was now surprised at the sight of Chisato getting up to strike Minami with several punches. Despite the fact that Minami was stepping back and blocking all of Chisato's strong punches, Kiriko was intrigued by the sight of the guitarist purposely stretching out her hands every five seconds for Chisato to hit them in a rhythm. The punches slamming against Minami's hands sounded like a rhythm of one, two, three before the rocker would put her arms back down by her sides. Minami would stretch them out again, and she kept repeating this unorthodox idea of making a rhythm with Chisato's punches.

"What in the world is Minami doing?" Lucy asked aloud while looking curious, as Minami began taking some steps forward and pushed Chisato back several feet.

Minami told Chisato in a calm manner, smiling with delight as the antagonist started punching her hands again, "That's right. Just keep trying to hit me."

At first, Lucy and Kiriko could not understand why Minami was just blocking Chisato's attacks and making a rhythm occur. As Kiriko began to recall how Minami once started off a song quite quickly in a battle between guitarists and strummed the electric guitar with a high amount of speed, she soon widened her eyes at this stunning realization. Just like how Minami would play notes on her guitar to make awesome rhythms, she was doing the same thing in this situation to set the pace of the battle. She was making Chisato get caught in her pace, causing her to no longer control the flow of this battle, and that was amazing.

Lucy noticed how Chisato began to slow down with her punches, starting to not be in tune with Minami's fast rhythm of raising her hands up, and she watched Minami use the Heavenly Healing spell on herself. After quickly healing, the aspiring rocker dealt a powerful punch to Chisato's cheek at fast speeds. Just like how it was good to make an opponent be caught in a rhythm, it was also good to throw them off with a fast move that would probably change the rhythm. Kiriko may have seen Minami as a punk, but she was certainly a musician who knew how to make a battle flow well like a great rock song.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in the main art gallery...**

Rogue and Kira had reached the main art gallery to surprisingly discover that all the paintings were still on the walls, along with all of the sculptures remaining on their white podiums, but the mages knew that they had to look around the entire room to see if any innocent people were tied up or hiding somewhere. If any civilians in the museum had heard the sounds of explosions coming from the basement, Rogue would sternly tell them to leave. He wasn't going to let anyone get hurt, especially because of how his job as a Sabertooth wizard was to protect people from danger.

Kira smiled a bit while she could see a brown door that blended in well with the coffee brown walls, and that door actually led to the small lounge for workers. All of the exhibits actually had lounge rooms where some people chose to relax, and the lounges were also useful for hiding. Kira walked towards the closet door while not even being afraid of what she would possibly find in there, and she smiled with lots of confidence. If any accomplices of the thieves were going to burst out of the closet in an attempt to scare the two mages, Kira would just knock them out with a fiery attack that would be quite swift.

Rogue watched Kira go towards the door that was on the left side of the art gallery, and he narrowed his eyes as he was ready to fight with his Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic. Kira placed her hand on the white doorknob, before turning it to the left side, and she opened up the door to find five of the museum's staff members tied up while white clothes were around their mouths to keep them from speaking. They were tied up by iron ropes that had been made from a certain fake curator's magic that involved metal, and the workers gave Kira frightened looks. They must've thought she was a thief, but they would be proven wrong.

The merchant with red hair calmly spat out some small flames, aiming them directly at the steel ropes surrounding the people who wore business suits, and Kira's hazel eyes were filled with joy from seeing the ropes be burnt away quite quickly. When there were breaks in the ropes, the workers were quick to remove them. After all, they did not wish to be engulfed in a large flame that would build up from a smaller flame. Even though Kira had saved their lives, the real curator who had long purple hair wore a pink business suit could only scowl at the mages in frustration.

"What on Earthland took you so long to find us, and are you going to stop the thieves who knocked us out earlier?!" The curator angrily asked Kira, her dark blue eyes filled with anger at how she had not done her job for about five hours now.

Kira responded in a kind manner, smiling as she was somewhat snarky, "Well, we had to eat breakfast and take a train ride to this town. Also, it would've taken longer for us to find you if we looked in the wrong exhibit of the museum. As for stopping the thieves, leave that to our friends."

Rogue added in a relaxed manner, as he shifted his red eyes to the curator, "You should be very happy that we rescued you, but now we must ask you to leave the museum. We don't want any of you to get hurt."

The curator's four other employees wasted no time with running out of the art gallery, panicking as they told each other that leaving was a better option than dying, but the curator herself merely sighed in a somewhat annoyed manner. She felt like Kira and Rogue would soon ask for a great amount of money, but she was saving the seventy-thousand jewels in the left pocket of her pink pants for the mage who took on the task of guard duty. She'd have to hand over that money to Lucy, but what reward would Kira and Rogue receive?

Kira watched the purple-haired curator take out a rectangular white camera from the right pocket of her pants, seeing her arms be stretched forward while she probably wanted to take pictures of any possible damages that were done to the artwork, and the curator scanned the room while she hoped to find some evidence of paintings being defaced. If some sculptures were also broken, then that would be more than enough evidence to put the thieves in jail. The curator also wanted to have them arrested for knocking her out, too.

As she kept looking around the room with her camera, starting to look frustrated at how no artwork was damaged in any way, the curator was startled by the sight of Kira popping up in front of her camera's lens. The quirky girl calmly asked the curator if she would do a nice favor for her, before looking back at Rogue, and Kira happily giggled at what she could do with Rogue in this nice art gallery. It may not have exactly been the fanciest activity to do on what was supposed to be a double date, but this was still going to be pretty fun for Kira.

Rogue watched his friend quickly walk over to a realistic-looking painting of a red plate with pink cookies that were shaped like hearts, and Kira stood on the left side of the portrait. Rogue calmly smiled as he walked over to the painting as well, deciding that he would stand on the other side of the portrait, and he also had to wonder why the museum would accept a painting of cookies. It did look pretty impressive, and the curator felt like the painting was a rather sweet one that could inspire love or make a person think that romance was great like a plate of delicious cookies.

"Smile for the camera, mages." The curator told the duo in a somewhat bored manner, before slightly moving the camera upward to get the entire painting in the photo.

Kira told Rogue in a delighted tone while cutely blushing, "I'm so glad that we'll get to take photos together, Rogue."

He responded nicely as his hands gently reached out to touch hers, "Well, the trip to the museum was your idea. Therefore, we can keep taking photos and check out other exhibits."

As Kira walked over to another painting, liking how it was just a picture of red flames moving through the air, Rogue wondered if Lucy was doing okay in the museum's basement. His enhanced hearing allowed him to hear Sting tap his feet in a calm manner, and Rogue could guess that his best friend only intended on helping Lucy if she actually needed his assistance. Sting was actually feeling confident in her abilities to win that fight, and Kira also believed that Lucy had a good chance to win. Even though Rogue was worried, he still needed to believe in Lucy.

The black-haired male thought about Lucy's Darkness Magic, remembering how she fought so hard against Kyouji to obtain the Requiem Crystal, and that type of magic seemed like a great one to use in the Grand Magic Games. Rogue thought about how Lucy and Kira were both getting stronger, definitely showing that they would be very useful to Sabertooth's team, and he wondered if guilds like Mermaid Heel would also have stronger fighters than last year. After all, anyone who was strong like Kagura would definitely be dangerous to battle against.

* * *

 **Back in the basement...**

Chisato ran back to where she originally stood when the fight started, now seeing that even close combat was very dangerous for her in this fight against Lucy, and the antagonist effaced her barrier spell. Lucy had used those ghostly hands as a way of dismantling the barrier, so creating defensive walls could no longer be a reasonable option for Chisato. If this fight was not in her favor, then she'd just have to use her psychic abilities to somewhat rock this battle. She activated a spell known as Heavenly Psi Mind, and it caused her eyes to once again become pink.

Some pink orbs appeared near the ceiling, before suddenly disappearing, and that certainly made Lucy gasp with curiosity. Why would a spell just disappear like that? The Celestial Spirit Wizard perceived it to merely be a spell that wasn't executed properly, and she pulled out the key of Aries from the left pocket of her yellow jean shorts. Her keys were in the same pocket as her little bag of money, and Lucy had been so focused with the book that she nearly forgot them. Lucy happily opened the Gate of The Ram, summoning the pink-haired Celestial Spirit, and that certainly surprised everyone.

Aries blushed while looking quite shy, hoping that her wool would not be too fluffy, and she used the spell known as Wool Bomb. Aries made some pink wool appear in her left hand, and she fired it straight at Chisato. Even though the wool quickly headed towards the villain, however, it was suddenly eradicated by the seven pink orbs that came down from the ceiling! Chisato showed her left hand to the protagonists, waving her index finger in a somewhat scolding manner, and seven more pink orbs went up near the ceiling. They soon disappeared, but two of them quickly came down to strike Lucy! A large pink blast of heavenly energy occurred, and Lucy looked quite pained as she screamed.

The smoke cleared up to reveal that Lucy was bruised by the attack, but there was no secondary effect involving spatial distortion that would twist up her body. She instructed Aries to fire off some more Wool Bombs, watching her shoot out five of them, but Lucy took notice of Chisato smirking evilly. The five orbs came down upon the projectiles at high speeds, creating pink blasts that were somewhat larger than before, and the Wool Bombs were once again eradicated. Heavenly Psi Mind was quite a tough attack to deal with, and the trick to figuring out how it worked was somewhat vague.

Lucy thought to herself in a frustrated manner, as she saw the pink orbs repeat their process of going back towards the ceiling, _"It's no good. Those pink orbs keep intercepting our attacks, and they strike at such odd intervals. It's so unpredictable."_

Chisato asked Lucy in a rude tone, before putting her left hand under her chin and laughing, "Isn't the air graciously filled with heavenly energy? Should I send more of it into my orbs?"

Lucy was about to respond, but the sight of some purple acid bubbling in the crater from earlier made her start to think. If Chisato was charging up the air with heavenly energy, didn't acid make something also be in the air when it exploded? This was a somewhat crazy idea, but Darkness Magic itself proved to be quite crazy. Lucy began to frown while she instructed Aries to send a Wool Bomb down into the pool of acid, and she watched the kind spirit send the attack into the bubbling goop. The pink wool went down into acid, before floating up, and it had turned purple!

Aries quickly picked up the wool that was surprisingly absorbing the acid, due to the spirit's power getting stronger in conjunction with Lucy getting stronger, and she threw it straight at Chisato. The pink orbs came down once again, creating an extremely large pink blast of energy, but the smoke was now purple while it also smelled putrid like poison. Spells involving acid were normally in the category of Poison Magic, but that acid was part of a darkness-based spell. Even though the acid was a good way to psych out a user of psychic attacks, Lucy hadn't even used her sixth spell yet.

It was known as Dark Silhouette, and this move caused Lucy's shadow to stretch out in front of her. It soon rose up while turning purple, matching the silhouette of Lucy, and this spell headed towards Chisato at high speeds. It surprisingly took all the poisonous smoke into its hands, absorbing the delicious toxicity of that power, and the silhouette slammed into the antagonist with a fierce amount of power! A purple explosion of Darkness Magic occurred while a woman's evil laughter could once again be heard, and this silhouette spell was also capable of taking in other spells of Darkness Magic. That's how it could absorb the acid while feeling like it had a delicious meal, and this Darkness Magic was certainly unpredictable.

Chisato's eyes became cherry red again while feeling like she had a headache, and she was amazed to discover that Lucy found out Heavenly Psi Mind's trick. Chisato simply used this spell after other heavenly attacks for it to absorb the Heavenly Body Magic that was in the air. Charging up the orbs with that energy could make each attack be worse than the last, but Chisato's spell fell apart when the acid bubbles exploded to make their poisonous energy burn away the heavenly energy with their heat. That Darkness Magic certainly had the heat of hell, and Lucy could see why Kyouji enjoyed using those dark flames.

"This fight is going to end right now!" Chisato fiercely stated, as she formed a small cross with the index and middle fingers of her hands to cast her final spell.

Lucy replied in a stern tone while knowing that she was on her final spell as well, "I'm going to defeat you, and the sculpture will be safe! Just like any artist, I'll show off the skills that are involved with my aspirations!"

Minami thought to herself as she looked at Chisato's stance for the spell, knowing that they both used it, _"What?! Is Chisato seriously going to use that?! She's making the hand sign for the spell's berserk form!"_

Lucy sent Aries back to the Celestial Spirit Worldwhile she decided to activate the spell known as Darkness Reira Migron, and this was the move Kyouji hadn't used. This spell caused six purple crescent moons to appear around Chisato in a hexagonal formation, the violet aura engulfing them as it began to shine beautifully like moonlight, and the crescent moons propelled themselves towards the pink-haired villain! They were going to strike Chisato at high speeds, but she could only smirk while getting ready to unleash her final attack. As Chisato was about to fire her attack, however, Minami intercepted it by making her index and middle fingers point downward in an 'X' formation.

The guitarist made a pink sphere of Heavenly Body Magic appear in her left hand, charging it up to where three smaller spheres were now orbiting it, and she harshly threw it at Chisato. The powerful thief was surprised to see that attack heading her way, causing her to stretch out her left arm to catch it with her hand, and Chisato aggressively threw the attack at Lucy! It seemed like both of these powerful attacks were going to make the girls be knocked out, since they contained massive amounts of power, but which attack would strike first?

Lucy's spell struck Chisato first with full force, creating six massive blasts that were purple, and the antagonist let out a scream of agony from how this spell was quite painful. Its heat was intense as well, making burns be on Chisato's arms and legs, and she was sent flying back against the wall that was close to the pedestal. Minami's spell that Chisato threw had struck Lucy in the stomach, creating seven massive blasts of heavenly energy that were pink, and Lucy screamed in extreme pain from feeling the attack's power. It felt quite panful, even making Lucy cough up some blood, and she opened her eyes for a moment to see Chisato cough up blood as well. Lucy also ended up hitting the stone wall behind wall, before sliding down, but she managed to stay on her knees.

Yukata and Kiriko looked at Chisato to see that her clothes were torn from the blast while she was only left in a pink shirt and some red shorts, and the women could also see that Lucy's clothes were somewhat torn while her Rainbow Crystals had all fallen on the ground. Her keys and the small bag of jewels fell on the ground as well, but Lucy still held on to the book. Minami ran to Lucy's side for the purpose of healing her, being somewhat surprised from seeing Lucy attempt to stand up, and she looked over at Chisato to see the sight of her making the briefcase containing the Astral Sculpture calmly float down to the ground as she passed out from being wounded quite badly.

* * *

 **15 minutes later...**

After Lucy was fully healed, she found herself being able to stand up without any problems. The mage from Sabertooth picked up her Rainbow Crystals and the Celestial Spirit Keys, putting them back in their respective pockets, but Lucy unfortunately noticed that the explosion made her small bag of jewels be quite charred. That was certainly a bummer, as Lucy wanted to use the twenty-thousand jewels to buy food for herself and her friends, and she'd probably have to pay for how the museum's basement was now wrecked as well.

The pillars had been turned to rubble while the stone walls had cracks in them, some of the rocks becoming gravel from getting caught in the blasts, and the heat even burnt away some of the paintings. Lucy was about to walk away, not caring that Sting and the others finally decided to come down to the basement and check out the situation, but she was soon stopped by Kiriko sternly telling her to wait. Minami also instructed Lucy to not leave, as some other matters still needed to be settled, and Lucy walked over to the pink-haired guitarist as she looked curious.

All of the smoke began to fade away while Minami decided to open up the briefcase, smiling as she did not forget that Lucy would get her chance to see the sculpture, and Minami hoped that Lucy would be quite proud of the artwork. Minami lifted up the top part of the briefcase for Lucy to see that the Astral Sculpture was on a pink cushion, and Lucy gasped in awe from seeing that the base of the sculpture was well-made in the shape of a star. There were five pillars as well, one on each corner of the star, and those pillars had small stars standing on top of them. The Astral Sculpture itself had been made from melting down many large pink pearls and molding their gooey substance to create the sculpture, and Minami also let the sculpture cool down in a freezer for a while to make the material harden.

Lucy also noticed that the base of this small sculpture appeared to have a rhombus-shaped spot that was filled up by a certain pink object that perfectly fit into it, and that was obviously the Rainbow Crystal. Minami actually carved that spot into the sculpture with a knife, and she thought that it looked pretty cool. Even though Lucy wanted the crystal, she smiled softly while feeling like she couldn't just take it out of the artwork. After all, wouldn't a sculpture look bad with a piece missing? As Lucy was about to explain to Minami that she didn't want the crystal, the guitarist turned her head to face the strange pedestal that she had glanced at earlier.

"Let's see why Chisato probably had her mind focused on the pedestal. I wonder what's it for." Minami said aloud to herself, before gently picking up the sculpture and walking over to the circular pedestal while Yukata frowned at her in a frustrated manner.

Kiriko exclaimed with a concerned look on her face, hoping the rocker would not get hurt, "Be careful, Minami!"

Sting commented with a calm smile on his face, as he folded his arms, "I didn't expect the Astral Sculpture to be the size of something you could put on a desk, but this should be exciting."

Minami placed the Astral Sculpture's star-shaped base into the pedestal's hollow spot that was also shaped like a star while it was the same size as the sculpture's base, and it easily fit into the pedestal. Minami quickly stepped back from seeing the pink crystal begin to glow cutely, watching it possibly send its power down into the pedestal, and Lucy went over to Minami's side while hearing the wall behind the pedestal experience soft sounds of crumbling. Putting the star key into the pedestal must've triggered some kind of switch, and the heavenly energy was going to reveal the pedestal's secret.

The stone wall behind the statue began to emit pink beams of light that were small while they formed the shape of a large star in the center of the wall, and everyone besides Chisato observed that part of the wall break apart to reveal a pink treasure chest that was quite large. This was quite a surprise to everyone, especially Minami, and the guitarist with emerald green eyes quickly ran over to the large treasure chest. She got it out of the star-shaped spot, liking how it felt quite happy, and it was pretty nice for the protagonist to find some treasure.

Despite having the urge to open the treasure chest, however, Minami went back to Lucy's side while giving her a pretty confident smile. As much as Minami would like the chance to be rich, she felt like Lucy was the person who rightfully earned the treasure. After all, she did manage to beat Heavenly Body Magic. There was something else that Minami would need to give Lucy as well, and even Chisato would probably agree that Lucy earned it. The battle was amazing, as Lucy proved to be quite a clever mage with lots of strength, and her style of battling somewhat brought back Minami's memories of how she used to fight when she was a Fairy Tail wizard.

As Minami gave Lucy a great grin of satisfaction, she also saw Yukata release Kiriko from the strong headlock. The orange-haired artist wasted no time with excitedly exclaiming that the battle was one of the best she had ever witnessed, even saying that it felt like Lucy fought as if she was cleverly painting a picture of Darkness Magic's fierce beauty, and Kiriko even brought up how Minami was quite smart to give Chisato a spell that would distract her from activating the one she initially intended to use against Lucy. Minami took a few steps towards the Astral Statue while feeling pretty happy about this day, and she'd also give Lucy one more nice present.

"Well, Lucy, you totally rocked in that battle! Every spell you used with some smart twists felt just as awesome as my epic guitar solos, and you battled like you were playing an electric guitar with headbanging involved to get the crowd cheering your name! Since Chisato can't give it to you, I'm totally giving you the Starry Crystal for rocking out pretty well against the Heavenly Body Magic!" Minami told her while looking pretty proud, before comically jamming out on an air guitar and singing about Lucy being a total rocker.

Lucy asked Minami in a concerned tone, not wanting her sculpture to miss a piece, "Are you sure that the crystal shouldn't be in the Astral Sculpture? Wouldn't it look weird?"

Minami countered her statement in a calm manner, continuing to smile, "It was a hollow spot before I put the crystal in there, so it's no big deal."

The user of Heavenly Body Magic gently took the Starry Crystal out of the Astral Sculpture, before going back to Lucy for the purpose of placing it in her right hand, and Minami watched Lucy look down at the pink crystal with a smile of amazement on her face. She now had the seventh Rainbow Crystal, which was actually the last one in the ancient challenge, and this meant that Lucy was now a wizard who could say she collected all of the crystals. Getting the other six crystals was certainly no easy task, as Lucy certainly did deal with a difficult road of challenges, and that road finally reached its end.

Lucy could only cheer happily while exclaiming that she got the Starry Crystal, causing Sting and Kira to also let out cheers of happiness, and Kiriko simply closed her eyes while giving Lucy a gentle applause. The Sabertooth mages were now finished with collecting the Rainbow Crystals, but what could they now look forward to? Their past adventures had been exciting, knowing that every crystal made the rewards be even better, and new jobs would probably not have the same degree of excitement. Despite that, however, Sting and Lucy would not be disappointed.

As Lucy was about to tell Minami that she enjoyed working with her, the loud growling of her stomach certainly got everyone's attention. Minami chuckled a bit while remembering that she still hadn't given Lucy any food to apologize for starting a fight with her in the park, and revealing that aloud had made Kiriko look at her with a stern facial expression. Minami closed her eyes while thinking she was going to get another lecture, along with being seen as a stupid punk who started trouble, but what happened next was quite nice.

"If you hadn't met Lucy, then you still would've been stupid. You showed off your love for rhythm and music, just like how I show off my passion for art. I'm proud of you, Minami. You did your job well." Kiriko told her in a calm manner as she smiled.

The guitarist responded nicely while chuckling, realizing that Kiriko now respected her, "Wow, you've stopped referring to me as a punk."

Yukata looked over at Chisato, who was still badly wounded, and the black-haired thief did not want her friend to die. She watched Minami surprisingly turn to face Chisato, before hitting her with a pink beam of Heavenly Body Magic, and that was another healing spell that could make a person fully recover. Yukata smiled as she watched the powerful thief start to stand up, before she grabbed Yukata's left hand, and Chisato sent Heavenly Body Magic down to her feet. She frowned while getting ready to run out of the museum at high speeds, refusing to be arrested by the mages, but the villain simply gave Lucy a stern look while her last words to her were that they would meet again someday.

Lucy would certainly keep that in mind, and she watched the thieves hurriedly leave the basement. No one intended on chasing after them, since they were all pretty hungry, and Minami decided that she could go upstairs to retrieve her large bag of food that was near the museum's entrance. As she was about to get the sculpture and put it back in the briefcase, however, Lucy extended her left hand to Minami. She thanked the guitarist for helping her out, and Minami confidently wished her good luck for the Grand Magic Games. Minami shook Lucy's left hand while calmly saying that she once knew a barmaid who used Darkness Magic, and Lucy kindly told her that she also knew someone like that. (Just a nice little Easter Egg that I decided to include.)

* * *

 **How was Chapter 29? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. I'd also like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story!**


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Tournament Preparations & Crossing Paths **

* * *

Lucy and Minami sat next to each other on a park bench while they both felt pretty full from having large boxed pizzas for lunch, along with some delicious fish cakes that contained creamy chocolate filling, and the two girls currently looked at one of the venues that was near the park. The sight of a venue made Minami smile while she thought about how there were many different kinds of artists in this town, and meeting a drummer or keyboardist would be good for starting a band. After all, some of the best guitarists couldn't work alone.

The pink-haired guitarist felt quite glad that she ran into Lucy at the park, still pretty sorry that she accused her of trying to steal her large bag of lunch, and she was also quite glad to have become friends with someone who was cool. Minami had informed Lucy that the clothing store in Hoshizora Town was unfortunately closed today, due to a note on the shop's front door saying that the owner was currently at a meeting, and she didn't really like how Lucy was still in her torn clothes. Even though Lucy also hated the fact that the battle with Chisato ruined her clothes, Shioru Town's clothing store would thankfully be opened.

Minami gave Lucy a kind smile while she thought about how the Celestial Spirit Wizard battled quite well, certainly fighting like a smart mage in the Grand Magic Games, and the rocker hoped that Lucy would keep showing off her passion for battling. Minami would work hard with showing her passion for music, even thinking about how she could make a wonderful song on her pink electric guitar about today's events, and she hoped that Lucy's spells would continue to awesomely be explosive. They looked quite amazing, in her opinion.

Lucy had also shared that thought about her spells, liking how they could be quite flashy while they were pretty powerful, and she even thought that some of the spells used by Chisato and Minami were fancy. Heavenly Body Magic wasn't exactly fancy like magic that a dragon slayer could wield, but Lucy would admit that Chisato's barrier spell really did look nice. Not only did mages care about making their spells be powerful, but showing off their beauty was similar to showing off great works of art. As Lucy was about to talk about which spell of Darkness Magic was the prettiest one, Minami asked her a nice question.

"After you leave this town, Lucy, what are you going to do?" Minami asked while looking curious, before glancing at the box of fish-shaped cakes that was in Lucy's lap.

Lucy responded with a confident smile on her face, seeming quite ambitious, "When I get back to Shioru Town, I'll probably train with some different types of magic. There are some types of magic that I haven't used in a while, and I need to revisit them."

"That's a smart idea, especially since you don't know what will happen in the Grand Magic Games." Minami replied, knowing that preparing beforehand was better than being tripped up by an opponent who could possibly nullify a certain type of magic.

Lucy pulled out the Starry Crystal from the right pocket of her jean shorts while thinking about how she now had seven types of magic, but she knew that it would be more of a challenge to have several different types of elemental spells. Some people like Natsu and Kira could consume fire, making Lucy's Fire Magic be pretty futile against them, and there were others like Laxus and Akina who could benefit from eating Lightning Magic. Lucy wouldn't want her spells to be useless in a situation, especially during a match in a tournament.

Lucy also wondered if there would be crazy drama in the tournament as well, really hoping that nothing like the Eclipse Gate and the dragons would transpire this year, and she just wanted to deal with a peaceful tournament. Lucy also hoped that she could handle any drama that would come from the Fairy Tail guild, as Erza would most likely not go easy on her, and the blonde-haired mage wouldn't go easy on any of her old friends. People like Wendy and Gray would not want her to fight them with weakened attacks, since it wouldn't be fair.

The Grand Magic Games would let Lucy see if her friends learned any new moves, just like how she learned new spells and new tactics, and that would certainly make the battles or events be somewhat interesting. Studying spells was something that Lucy had learned to do in her fight with Takuya, as he and Hizuki were pretty clever, but she narrowed her eyes at the thought of someone tearing through her attacks with ease. The Grand Magic Games was something exciting to look forward to, but it was also very nerve-wracking as well.

She may have felt pretty confident about training with her magic, but the tournament was a different issue. No one ever knew what events would transpire or who would be fighting in each match, and Lucy's hands shook a bit as she wondered if Sabertooth could truly win without Sting being on the team. Lucy felt like it would be dangerous to fight against Gajeel or Mirajane, knowing how they were quite strong, and she began to sigh while feeling somewhat anxious. The curiosity about the Grand Magic Games started to make Lucy frown a bit, but Minami noticed this and proceeded to change the subject.

"Well, I guess you and your teammates have to go back to your guild soon. By the way, Kiriko had a white backup wallet and she said she'll teach me not to overspend." Minami told Lucy a kind tone of voice, before chuckling at how Kiriko went to get lunch with Lucy's teammates.

Lucy replied with a soft smile on her face while getting off of the yellow bench, "Well, at least Sting and Rogue won't make her wallet get thinner. Kira loves to eat, though."

Minami asked Lucy in a playful tone, as she got up from the bench to hand Lucy her purple spell book, "Why don't we make a sweet trade?"

The Celestial Spirit Wizard put the white box of her seven remaining fish-shaped cakes into Minami's left hand, before taking the spell book that was in the right hand of the pink-haired guitarist, and Minami opened up the box to see that Lucy ate nine of the delicious cakes. Minami would happily consume the rest of them, and she stretched out her right hand to shake Lucy's left hand. She wished Lucy good luck in the tournament once again, and Lucy happily hoped that Minami would encounter other musicians in Hoshizora Town. The venue in this town was actually where some of them liked to hang out, and Minami could possibly rock out in front of music producers.

As Lucy was about to run off and find her friends, though, Minami took the small bag of seventy-thousand jewels from the right pocket of her black leather pants. She gently threw it to Lucy, who caught it, and Minami had actually talked the curator while everyone else left the museum to get lunch. She had explained to her about how Lucy took the job of guard duty, greatly protecting the Astral Sculpture from getting stolen, and the curator gave Minami the bag of money. The rocker found it fair for Lucy to get the money that she deserved, and she walked off towards the venue while Lucy went to look for her friends.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at a cafe in Magnolia...**

Erza ate some slices of pizza while she was in the cafe where Lucy and Sting had their first date, but the scarlet-haired woman was not exactly very happy. She had been handling jobs by herself for the past two days, not even being asked by other people to join them on jobs, and Erza really felt like she was becoming very distant from the people who were formerly in Team Natsu. Juvia would go out on jobs with Gray while they seemed to work well together in fights, and the woman with blue eyes would run out of the guild very quickly while holding Gray's hand.

Natsu didn't really speak to Erza very often, as he was too busy cuddling with Lisanna, and they seemed to be having lots of fun together. Yesterday, they came back to the guild with a large blueberry cheesecake as their reward for stopping some bandits in Magnolia from robbing an elderly woman. Lisanna was the person who happily cut the cake, cutting several pieces for herself and Natsu to eat, and she even let Mirajane have some cake as well. Erza was the only person who hadn't been asked about wanting a nice slice of the large cake, and she felt pretty excluded.

Gray would speak to her sometimes, but he never went out on jobs with Erza anymore because of how Juvia needed his help. In fact, there were some jobs that she couldn't even handle without the ice-making mage by her side. Erza could certainly understand that, but no one wanted to work with her anymore. Even Wendy would go out of the guild with Happy and Carla, leaving Erza with the feeling of not having great friendships, and this feeling was definitely familiar. It hadn't exactly happened to Erza, but she did play quite a major role in making someone else experience the feeling of rejection.

Lucy may have gotten rejected by Natsu, but now Erza was being rejected by the people who she used to be close with in the guild. Team Natsu experienced dysfunction when Erza and Lisanna argued about their views on stopping Clair or letting her kill a defenseless bandit, and that was what truly caused the team to start breaking apart like a somewhat damaged mirror that had cracks in it. Erza clenched her fists while looking pretty frustrated, feeling like she would just never be able to get out of the situation that she put herself into, and she ignored the footsteps of a certain purple-haired man who walked up to her table.

"Excuse me, Miss. Is this seat taken?" The man asked her while frowning a bit, before looking down at his blood red shoes.

Erza responded in a somewhat startled manner, as his voice made her shift attention away from her thoughts, "No. No, it's not. You can sit there."

The man replied calmly as he sat down, adjusting his new purple top hat, "Thank you. It's quite interesting to see that this town has many polite civilians."

Erza was now looking at Kyouji Kuragari, the man who was now on a long journey to study how people acted in this world, and she was quite surprised to see him wear a violet tuxedo with three lavender buttons on the bottom while his pants were in a royal shade of purple. He was merely in the cafe because of how he felt quite hungry, and Kyouji actually had money from going into the Fairy Tail guild earlier today. He had taken a job that simply paid sixty-thousand jewels, and the task of defeating a criminal with his dark magic was quite easy.

He actually took the job when Mira was alone in the guildhall while Makarov was in his office, and the white-haired barmaid was too occupied with cleaning some dirty beer mugs to look up for the chance of seeing the dark mage. He quietly unpinned the flyer and calmly walked out, and Kyouji now had the small bag of money in the left pocket of his pants. His eyes glanced at the five slices of pizza that were on Erza's plates, choosing to just look at them, but Erza seemed like she had something weighing heavily on her mind. Whatever it was, he had the time to listen.

Erza talked aloud about how she felt like it was starting to look like a great mistake to let her friend leave the Fairy Tail guild on that day, and she went on to say how Team Natsu wasn't really the same after Lucy left. Not giving her a proper apology was also what contributed to Erza looking like a bad friend, as she couldn't even make the Celestial Spirit Wizard see that she was sorry for not telling her about Natsu's feelings for Lisanna, and Natsu himself would not apologize for Erza. After all, it was her fault for letting Lucy greatly fall for a guy who wouldn't return her feelings.

Kyouji listened to Erza bring up her issues with Lisanna, as that was really where the entire team became divided, and the brown-eyed woman really hated how Lisanna's relationship with Natsu allowed her to sway him into being on her side with certain arguments. That job in Eisetsu Town really was the beginning of the end for Team Natsu, as Erza now had no one, and she harshly asked Kyouji about what she was doing wrong. Erza really felt like she was a person who followed rules, who knew when someone deserved her mercy or rage, so why were things not working out for her?

"If you're arguing with that girl named Lisanna, then swallow your pride and admit she's right. That's the first step to making someone have respect for you, and it makes things easier on the group." Kyouji calmly explained to Erza while frowning, remembering how his own dark dilemma ended with him realizing that taking out vengeance on the townspeople made Mumargi Town experience tremendous sorrow.

Erza asked him in a stern tone, narrowing her eyes, "Why should I admit that Lisanna is right about the bandit deserving to be dead? Did I tell you that the client wanted to kill him, and I tried to stop her?"

"If you admit that she was right and you were wrong, then she'll probably help you repair the team. Sometimes, you just have to listen to someone's decision and shut up. Besides, you said Lisanna is with Natsu. If the team is named after him and she's helping him lead, then just be her follower." Kyouji further explained while frowning, as he remembered how his loyalest followers never questioned his decisions because they wanted to stay alive.

The idea of just doing what Lisanna thought was right made Erza feel somewhat uncomfortable, but did her opinion of Lisanna really matter more than getting the team back together? The Grand Magic Games would be coming up soon, possibly having last day's event once again involve all the team members, and Erza's team would need to have cohesion. Otherwise, they'd look like a dysfunctional bunch of idiots. As much as it pained Erza, she sighed in a surrendering tone and felt like she would need to just follow Lisanna. If Natsu respected her opinions and didn't argue with her, then Erza would have to learn to follow suit.

Erza saw her listener's eyes glance at the food once again, nicely telling Kyouji that she already paid the waitress for the large cheese pizza, and the S-Class mage from Fairy Tail shifted the large plate to his side of the table. Erza felt that swallowing her pride in the situation with Lisanna would be a tough task, but there was something probably even tougher that she'd have to face. If the tournament was coming up, she'd probably see Sabertooth's team appearing and possibly get to see Lucy. Erza confidently told Kyouji that she would probably settle her conflict with Lucy after brutally defeating her in a battle to really give her a large apology, but Kyouji merely hid his faint rude smirk at her words as he knew from experience that Lucy could kick someone's butt with her magic.

* * *

 **Three hours later, in Shioru Town...**

Lucy got back to the town of Shioru, pretty happy that she came back from what was supposed to be an ordinary trip to a museum with a nice souvenir that was pink, and she was currently in her town's clothing store. Not only did Lucy need some new clothes to wear, but she also wondered about what she could purchase with seven of the Rainbow Crystals in her possession. Now that she had all of the pretty crystals, the only other condition to fulfill was having enough money to buy what she wanted to purchase.

Sting stood next to Lucy while he watched her walk around in the clothing store, seeing her look curious about what to buy, and he felt like his girlfriend would look good in almost any outfit. Sting always thought that Lucy's fashion sense was pretty great, as she tended to dress quite well, and he simply smiled from seeing her look at some new dresses that had arrived into the clothing store. One of them was actually familiar to Lucy, as she had seen it at the clothing store on Emblaze Island, and that certainly made her smile at the good memory of meeting Sting on that day.

"Excuse me, but what is the price for that pink dress?" Lucy asked the white-haired shop owner with a smile on her face, before pulling out the Starry Crystal from her pocket.

The shop owner who had red eyes replied in an astounded tone, recognizing that crystal as the seventh one in the sequence, "Oh, my! You've found all seven Rainbow Crystals! That means you can buy any items you want at any price. Congratulations!"

Sting asked the shop owner as he looked puzzled, "Wouldn't you lose your job from letting customers set their own prices?"

She kindly informed him about how Samantha Kalos made a rule that stated how wizards who got all seven Rainbow Crystals got the nice perk of setting their own prices, similar to how a famous fashion designer could set the prices for her own clothes, and anyone who obtained seven crystals to purchase Samantha's clothes certainly had a marvelous passion for fashion. The shop owner was simply following Samantha's rule, so any reports of getting low sales from a store would probably fall on her shoulders. After all, she was making the rules.

Lucy happily smiled as she decided to purchase the strapless pink dress with red hearts on the bottom of it for a mere ten-thousand jewels, gently taking it off of the rack, and Lucy also liked how the cute dress came with an orange bow that looked like it was for her hair. She calmly put the crystal back into her pocket, before walking up to the cash register with the beautiful pink dress, but Lucy soon gasped a bit from realizing that the money she earned from the curator was for this month's rent. She sighed a bit while thinking that it would've been good to ask Minami if she had any cash, but fate would make a way for her to buy the dress.

Sting kindly walked up to the counter while pulling out ten-thousand jewels from the left pocket of his blue vest, and he was pretty glad to have handled a great job with Lucy yesterday to get that money. Even though they simply had to beat up some crooks who wanted to rob a bank in Shioru Town, the reward money was quite high. The team chose to let Sting keep it, since he beat up most of the bandits in the bank while choosing to show off his skills in front of civilians, and he was now going to use that cash to help Lucy.

He handed the 10,000 jewels to shop owner, who proceeded to count all of the brown bills, and the store owner put the ten bills into the cash register. Lucy handed her the pink dress, which was quickly folded up neatly to be put in a white shopping bag, and the shop owner handed the bag to Lucy. She proceeded to walk out of the store with Sting, quite happy that he helped her out with making a purchase, and Lucy smiled at him while her cheeks blushed a light shade of pink. Wasn't this recent situation somewhat similar to how they first bonded?

"I'm glad that you paid for the dress, Sting. Thank you so much. It reminded me of how I got the Fire Crystal from you on the first day we met." Lucy stated in a happy manner as she stood next to her boyfriend, looking into his blue eyes.

The light dragon slayer responded in a confident tone, looking into his girlfriend's sweet brown eyes, "You're welcome, Lucy. You actually have many people to thank, though. Just like with Kira, each person we've met played some role in getting us to where we are now."

Lucy asked Sting while she began to frown a bit, "Do you think we'll be okay at the Grand Magic Games without you, Sting?"

She surprisingly made him start to chuckle in a joyous manner, wondering how her question was even funny, and the wielder of White Dragon Slayer Magic informed Lucy that she won against Chisato without his help. Sting may not have seen the battle, but his enhanced hearing certainly allowed him to hear the fight rage on with intensity. Lucy fought like it had been a battle in the Grand Magic Games, despite not holding back, and she managed to win. If Lucy could succeed in a fight like that, she could totally help Sabertooth win the tournament.

As Lucy began walking off towards the Sabertooth guild, Sting stepped away from the store to calmly think about how Lucy became quite strong. She had definitely changed from the moment they first met, not being scared of an enemy's dangerous attacks, and Sting could guess that Lucy got this strong because of how she wasn't thinking of herself. When she had to protect Hikari from Akina's lightning, Lucy was fighting with ferocious determination. The excitement of fights always brought out the best in Lucy, and Sting liked how she could battle quite well.

He wondered if the people in Fairy Tail would fight just as hard as they did last year, knowing that Natsu was immensely strong, but Sting wouldn't have to deal with any fiery punches to the face. He wasn't going to participate in the Grand Magic Games, leaving that to his friends, and Sting felt quite confident about Sabertooth's chances to win. On every adventure that involved a Rainbow Crystal, there were always some nice lessons to learn. Lucy may have wielded Fire Magic and other elemental types of magic, but Kira was also quite strong.

Sting started to run after Lucy while he smiled, believing that she and Kira were great mages who would help Sabertooth rise to the top again, and he also wondered about Kira's newest attacks. He would not fight the quirky merchant, as her fire could probably roast him quite harshly, and Sting just hoped that Kira could win some fights in the Grand Magic Games. Some of those mages would be very tough, especially Kagura from Mermaid Heel, but he also felt like the idea of thinking they were tough would make him be heckled by someone like Akina.

* * *

 **In the Sabertooth guild...**

Kira and Rogue sat down at a table with Minerva, along with Lector and Frosch, and the black-haired woman was quite glad that Kira came back. Minerva may have liked to relax at certain times, but her mind was definitely filled with thoughts about the Grand Magic Games. She could see that Kira felt happy, as she soon heard the red-haired merchant tell Lector and Frosch that she got to see lots of nice artwork in Hoshizora Town's museum, but Minerva wondered if the fire-wielding merchant would start to train harder.

It wasn't a matter of Kira being weak, as she was definitely not weak, but Minerva just didn't like her attitude about certain things. When they had talked about the Grand Magic Games during dinnertime at the guild last night, Minerva felt slightly startled to hear Kira confidently say that she'd burn down the other competitors with ease. Minerva had asked her if she could honestly see herself being triumphant over Kagura and Erza, but Kira had simply told her that everyone in Sabertooth worked too hard to just fail against random people.

Minerva narrowed her emerald green eyes as she looked at Kira, really wishing that she would learn to be more serious, and it really wasn't understandable for her to not be nervous right now. Minerva wouldn't admit this aloud to her fellow guild members, but she felt somewhat anxious about the idea of fighting Erza Scarlet again. That's why she had decided to get info about Fairy Tail's guild members from Lucy, as she probably knew the strengths and weaknesses of her former friends, and finding out some of Erza's weaknesses with magic would definitely help Sabertooth be Fiore's best guild again.

With that being said, however, Minerva still remembered how Lucy told her about how she wasn't on good terms with Erza. She also did recall how Erza was angry when the Naval Battle ended, claiming that Sabertooth had angered the wrong guild, but Minerva actually felt somewhat miffed about Lucy's situation. In her opinion, Erza was now the person who made enemies with Sabertooth because of how she betrayed Lucy. Minerva could imagine Erza feeling like Fairy Tail would win the tournament, but she would make this year's trophy not be within that guild's reach.

"Kira, I really hope you will fight hard in the Grand Magic Games. Don't treat the events or battles like they're mediocre, or any losses will result in you getting a personal beating from me." Minerva calmly told her, smiling as she gave her that warning.

The red-haired girl responded nicely, before making a snarky remark, "Minerva, I've been training very hard with my spells. I've even developed new moves, too. Be glad that I don't intend on getting anyone angry. Sting told me how your actions in the Naval Battle really brought Sabertooth bad karma. For someone who seems smart, that must've been the dumbest mistake of your life."

Minerva replied in a kind manner, resisting the urge to warp Kira in front of her to punch her right in the face, "You may think I did something dumb, but I know someone who is even more stupid."

As Minerva was about to start talking about Erza, Lucy and Sting walked into the guildhall with confident facial expressions. They were both quite happy as well, and Lucy's eyes looked down at the pink dress that was in the shopping bag. It was definitely a great outfit for going on a date with Sting, but where would they even go? Judging by their long adventure involving the Rainbow Crystals, they'd have an awesome selection of towns. Lucy and Sting walked towards the table where their friends were sitting, and Lector flew up from the table to confidently give Sting a high-five.

Lucy turned her attention to Minerva while pulling out the pink crystal from the pocket of her jean shorts, telling her that it was the Starry Crystal, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard smiled more as she explained that it was wonderful for a mage in Sabertooth to now have all seven Rainbow Crystals. Minerva could only clap her hands in joy at the sight of Lucy's seventh crystal, being glad that Sabertooth certainly made themselves be known in the ancient challenge, but she smirked at the slight thought of how none of the other guilds had someone from this time period be able to replicate this fine achievement.

It would definitely be great for Lucy to show off her collection of Rainbow Crystals on the opening day of the Grand Magic Games, as people from the other guilds would possibly be quite surprised to see those seven wonderful items, and Minerva began to grin at the thought of simply telling the other competitors that Lucy went up against some of the toughest people to obtain those crystals. Lucy noticed Minerva grinning like she was really happy for her, but she did wonder about why she was smirking. Lucy brushed that off, however, and she turned to face Kira.

Lucy felt like it was great that they'd be participating in the tournament together, as she did enjoy working with Kira, but Lucy also wanted her friend to make some people get burned by her powerful flames. She thought about how this would actually be Kira's first time in the Grand Magic Games, as she was a great merchant who also doubled as a good mage, and it would probably be interesting to see how she'd fight on the sandy battlefield of the Domus Flau. Lucy may have felt nervous today while Kira was feeling confident, but both of the girls were definitely starting to feel fired up like a certain pink-haired dragon slayer.

"I'm going to do great in the Grand Magic Games, Lucy! In fact, people have been saying that we need to beat Fairy Tail. Our team will be great, and no one will be able to touch us!" Kira stated to Lucy as she got up from her chair, happily looking psyched up.

Lucy replied as she smiled softly, remembering how it wasn't great to get too confident, "I wouldn't be so quick to say that, Kira. My old guild has some people are exceptionally strong. For example, Gray is good with his Ice-Make Magic. Also, Erza can resist fire with her Flame Empress Armor."

Minerva added calmly as that last part made her smile, "That's some useful information, Lucy."

Kira gave Lucy a nice smile as she thought about how her friend was training in several different places, as each battle always helped Lucy get stronger, but that also made the fire-wielding wizard think about what she could do for her own training. There was the nice idea of going back to Emblaze Island for the purpose of using her spells in the volcano, and Kira's spells would possibly become even hotter from infusing them with the volcano's boiling hot magma. That was certainly a good plan, and she'd be happy to have Rogue accompany her there tomorrow. After all, he'd probably like to see Kasai Town again.

As Lucy thought about going on a date with Sting and happily giggled, Minerva turned her attention to one of the guild's glass windows. She looked out the window to see Rufus and Orga talking about something involving the newspaper that Rufus held in his left hand, and Minerva looked quite curious as she got up from her chair. She walked towards the window to see what they were talking about, since the glass wasn't thick enough to block out their voices, and Rufus appeared to be quite surprised. Minerva's green eyes caught a glimpse of the newspaper article that Rufus was looking at, seeing it mention something about visiting Sabertooth, but the black and white picture of someone in that same article made Minerva widen her eyes in shock at how that person would be coming to Shioru Town.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 30? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. I'd also like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! The Grand Magic Games are coming real soon! I'm excited! :)**


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Passion For Fashion**

* * *

Sting and Lucy sat down at a round table in the guildhall while they both looked at the pink treasure chest that Minami gave Lucy in the museum's basement, and both of the mages felt like this would be a good day for opening the chest. Lucy had let Kira keep the treasure chest when she got lunch in Hoshizora Town with Rogue and Sting, and Lucy didn't mind that her friend ran to the Sabertooth guild with the treasure chest in her hands when they all got back to Shioru Town. Kira certainly got quite excited at the sight of treasure, and Lucy shared her feelings of excitement.

Kira hid the pink treasure chest behind the bar for no one to steal it, even putting a note on it to inform other mages that it was supposedly filled with items that she'd sell next week when she was being a merchant, and Sting was pretty glad that his red-haired friend put the treasure chest in a safe spot. Sting didn't really care about what was inside, as long as it was not going to be a nasty monster that had been sealed away, and he stood next to Lucy as her heart palpitated from how she felt nervous. Would the treasure chest only contain money?

Lucy's hands gently touched the top part of the treasure chest, before pushing them upward to make the chest be opened, and she was quite surprised to see that the heavy chest contained lots of money. There were many gold bills inside, looking different from the brown bills for jewels that were used in Fiore's currency, and Lucy's cocoa brown eyes widened in amazement from seeing each gold bill appear to be worth 100,000 jewels. They were not part of Fiore's modern currency, however, so Lucy would obviously have to find out the exchange rate from Shioru Town's bank.

Sting put his left hand in the treasure chest to move some of the bills around, wondering if anything else was inside, and his blue eyes caught sight of a small brown book. That was certainly a rather odd thing to put in a treasure chest, unless it contained forbidden spells of magic or secrets that did not need to publicly be known, and Sting pulled out the book. He slowly opened it up to see that the book appeared to be somewhat ragged while the black text appeared to be in runes. Sting couldn't read runes, which made it impossible to decipher the book right now, and he placed it on the table.

"Well, it's nice that we have all this money. I just hope it doesn't turn out to be worthless." Sting told Lucy in a pleased manner while he smiled, before slightly frowning.

Lucy replied kindly as she happily looked at her boyfriend, "It has to be worth something, since the bills are gold. After all, gold is the color that tends to be associated with luxury."

Minerva told the duo in a stern tone as she passed by their table, her facial expression looking somewhat displeased, "Enjoy your great discovery, since you'll have to wait a while before anyone acknowledges Sabertooth's mages again. After all, our town is having a visitor."

Sting was quite curious about who would be visiting Shioru Town, since no one at Sorcerer Magazine ever made a huge deal about other wizards coming to the place where Sabertooth resided, and he wondered if Natsu was trying to come here with a fiery entrance. However, Minerva spoke about it like she had been informed by a newspaper article. That was actually the case, and the possibility of Natsu making a surprise entrance wouldn't exactly be newsworthy to Sorcerer Magazine. After all, he wasn't exactly the most famous person in Fiore right now.

Lucy wondered if the visitor would be the former master of Sabertooth, the man who hated Sting and Rogue for losing against Natsu on the fourth day of last year's Grand Magic Games, but that was highly unlikely. Whoever had enough fame to make Minerva displeased was probably quite well-known, especially since they would be snatching some attention away from Sabertooth, and Lucy hoped that they wouldn't be the type of person to just push her aside if she unknowingly stood in their away. Not every famous person needed to be rude, and Lucy became quite curious about what she'd need to say in the presence of a famous person.

Minerva looked around the guildhall to see other girls giggling as they had black cameras on their tables, along with photographs of the famous person, and her emerald green eyes also saw that there were markers on the tables as well. Several of the guys had pictures of this certain famous woman on their tables, also making sure that their cameras had enough film for the purpose of taking pictures, and Minerva scowled from hearing one guy exclaim that he'd love to get a picture with that beautiful woman. In Minerva's eyes, Sabertooth was supposed to be the best at everything.

That included having the highest amounts of fame and beauty, which Minerva claimed to possess, but the black-haired woman was clearly outmatched by someone else. Even if Sabertooth had won last year's Grand Magic Games, would they be more famous than someone who strongly made her name be known in the fashion industry? In fact, this woman was actually a model prior to becoming a fashion designer. She hadn't been popular enough back then to be acknowledged by people like Minerva or Jenny Realight, but she was certainly blazing past them in terms of fame levels. After all, her designs always gave people something to talk about.

"What if Samantha Kalos is the visitor, Sting? Wouldn't it be great to tell her that we found all the Rainbow Crystals?" Lucy asked the light dragon slayer with an excited facial expression, as her eyes twinkled.

Sting responded in a calm tone, "Yeah, but I don't think she would be able to reward us with any clothes or hats that haven't been released yet. I just hope she thinks that wizards are cool."

Minerva told Lucy and Sting in a somewhat irked manner while walking towards the guild's entrance doors, "I just hope she doesn't badmouth our guild or anything in Shioru Town. In fact, I'll tell her that I don't even buy her clothes. She's so over-hyped."

Lucy looked down at the pink dress she was currently wearing, glad that she chose to put it on before the date, and the blonde-haired girl almost wished that Kira wasn't training on Emblaze Island with Rogue right now. The red-haired merchant probably would've snickered at the sight of Minerva being jealous of Samantha, especially since Minerva only disliked Sabertooth's competition when it made the guild look inferior in comparison, and Minerva would've most likely screamed at the sight of Kira claiming that she'd hang a picture with Samantha's autograph on a wall in the guildhall.

As Minerva tried shifting her thoughts to the Grand Magic Games, she let out a soft breath and closed her eyes while wondering if the guild's team would truly be able to take down their biggest rivals who were in Fairy Tail. Minerva thought about Erza used her Nakagami Armor to not only take her out with ease, but the halberd associated with that particular armor even sliced the spatial matter around a spell that Minerva tried to unleash. She couldn't possibly take down Erza very easily, but Minerva opened her eyes and narrowed them at the thought of using Lucy's discord with Erza in a psychological manner to make the scarlet-haired woman be somewhat weakened.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Erza had a frown of disappointment on her face while she walked over to the bar, seeing Natsu and Lisanna sitting on stools as they happily ate large plates of chocolate cake, and the woman with scarlet red hair knew that this was the only way to make Team Natsu function well for the upcoming Grand Magic Games. It wouldn't be very easy for Erza to admit that Lisanna was right, but her personal feelings toward the white-haired mage were outweighed by how the team needed to get back together. Being selfless for this situation would be far better than being selfish, would it not?

Mirajane's blue eyes gazed down at today's issue of the newspaper that had reached Magnolia, astounded that a journalist wrote an article about how the Astral Sculpture managed to not get stolen by a pair of powerful thieves, and the journalist put a picture of Minami Taikou on the same page as the article. Mirajane smiled a bit from seeing that her former friend was doing well, but she did soon become quite shocked from seeing the article bring up how the guitarist fought alongside Lucy Heartfilia earlier on that day. Mira found it to be quite interesting how two people who left Fairy Tail at different times managed to cross paths, but she was glad to see the article end with Minami telling the reporter who interviewed her near the museum at sunset that she'd rise to the top as a rock star.

There were also a few sentences about Kiriko being glad that the sculpture was safe, but Mira ignored them as she shifted her attention to Natsu and Lisanna. They looked so cute together, and Lisanna even spoon-fed some of her cake to the fire dragon slayer. Natsu joyfully ate the cake while smiling, before showing his usual grin that was somewhat goofy, and he was pretty happy that he'd get to be on the same team as Lisanna in this year's tournament. They were a nice couple who worked quite well together, but Lisanna did think abut their teammates.

Gray would certainly be an easy person to work with for the tag-team battle, and Wendy was also a decent wizard who got along with Lisanna. It would be bad for the youngest Strauss sibling to be in a team with Erza, however, and she dreaded the thought of having to partner up with her on the fifth day. After all, Natsu seemed like the type of person who could handle himself quite well in fights. Gray and Wendy could fight well to where they only needed support when it was necessary, so they would most likely make Lisanna be stuck with Erza. She let out an annoyed sigh at that thought, and Lisanna actually sighed at the same time that Erza's footsteps stopped.

"Hey, Lisanna. Can we talk?" Erza asked politely while being in her Heart Kreuz Armor, her frown changing to a more calm expression.

Lisanna turned around while responding in a curious manner, slightly raising an eyebrow, "Why do you want to talk with me, Erza?"

Erza explained calmly, after letting out a soft breath and closing her eyes, "Lisanna, I.. I realize that you were right in that argument we had back then in the Master's office. I was wrong for getting in that woman's way, and I should've just ran like you did. The Grand Magic Games are coming up, and we need a team leader who can make good decisions. I'll gladly do whatever you say."

Her apology left Lisanna quite surprised, as she never thought that Erza would apologize or even appoint her as their team's leader in the Grand Magic Games, and the blue-eyed girl slowly got up from her chair to face Erza. She saw the powerful woman give her an apologetic look, really trying to show Lisanna and Natsu that her words were true while she was not lying about anything, and Mira was just as surprised as her sister to see Erza get down on her knees like she begged for forgiveness. Natsu wondered why Erza wasn't showing any of her usual pride, especially since he saw her brown eyes briefly glance at Lisanna's feet.

If Lisanna felt like Erza was just trying to feign an apology, she would be proven wrong by Erza's desire to literally kiss the ground that Lisanna walked on. That was why Erza now looked down at the ground, wanting to really prove that she wanted Team Natsu to no longer be divided, and she was definitely serious about obeying any orders that were given to her by Lisanna. Even if Erza was told by her to eat a green lime cake that was made with bitter herbs thrown into the mix, she would swallow her pride and eat the bitter cake. Certain sacrifices had to be made for the group's cohesion, and Erza didn't want her team to lose badly in the tournament.

Lisanna decided to walk over to Erza and squat down beside her, asking her in a snobby manner about if she finally realized that Team Natsu would be a sinking ship without Lisanna helping her boyfriend lead the team, and the cute girl playfully giggled as she told Erza to meow like a cat. It seemed like the brown-eyed woman wouldn't disobey any of Lisanna's orders, as she began to meow like a kitten, and Erza watched the younger female giggle as she began to smile. Lisanna started to happily tell Erza that she wanted her to buy the newest issue of Sorcerer Magazine, prompting the fire dragon slayer to become curious, but Erza soon looked shocked.

She didn't exactly have much money on her right now, only having four-thousand jewels left, and Erza had wanted to save that cash for when she needed some dinner. Getting food from Mira was also an option, but Erza didn't feel like doing that. She really wanted to save her money for some dinner, especially since she wanted more food from Magnolia's new cafe, and Erza could only stand up while giving Lisanna a disobedient frown. Even though one magazine only cost one-thousand jewels, why couldn't Lisanna get it herself? Erza would have enough cash left over for dinner, but still.

"Lisanna, I'm not buying you a magazine." Erza stated to her, thinking that the task was too petty to be an official order.

The younger sister of Mira asked in a sweet manner, looking quite cute, "Please get it for me, Erza? There's news about a fashion designer in there, and I just want to look at the clothes I'll never be able to buy. Will you just let me enjoy looking at what I'd imagine wearing?"

Erza responded as she sighed, looking into Lisanna's pleading blue eyes, "Fine, Lisanna. I'll buy the magazine."

As Natsu was pretty impressed with how Lisanna convinced Erza to buy her something, Mirajane thought about how her own team would fare against everyone else in the Grand Magic Games. Last year, Mira was thankfully on the same team as Gajeel and Juvia. Laxus and Jellal were on the team as well, and Team Fairy Tail B was certainly not a team that anyone could mess with. Mira recalled how she took out Jenny Realight with just one punch, ending the match rather quickly, and she wondered if Lucy's team would be tough to handle.

Mira turned her attention back to Erza, who loudly grumbled about how she apologized for the good of the team, and the barmaid even heard Erza mention that she hated how she couldn't wait to make Lisanna respect her by brutally defeating Lucy in a fight. Mira looked back at the newspaper to see that Minami did indeed tell the reporter about how Lucy fought, saying how she rocked out in a clever manner with her magic, and anyone who battled quite well against a powerful thief was probably quite strong. Mira would enjoy the idea facing Lucy in a fight, but a battle between Erza and Lucy was more personal.

* * *

 **Three hours later, in Shioru Town...**

Lucy sat down at a black round patio table that was outside of a cafe, liking how Sting and Minerva were at the table as well, and the three mages were simply enjoying some delicious pies while they all wondered when the visitor would arrive in Shioru. Minerva was probably the only mage in the guild who did not look forward to meeting this famous fashion designer, as she even rudely covered her ears when two girls walked by the table and conversed about Samantha Kalos, but she would definitely enjoy finding something about her outfit that wasn't stylish.

Even the best queens of fashion were mercilessly judged by Minerva, since she made the top fashion designer from the year X789 cry from saying that her outfit was incredibly tacky, and the woman with tan skin even told that designer how her sense of style was only liked because of how her competitors in the fashion world were merely losers. Minerva was basically saying that a person couldn't truly be respected if their rivals were idiots who weren't able to be as successful, and she felt like Samantha fit perfectly into that category because of how her competitors weren't measuring up to her level of success.

Minerva felt like Lucy deserved some respect, due to how she fought people who were nearly around her levels of skill when she fought them for the Rainbow Crystals, and she could see those mages as her competition. Wizards in the Grand Magic Games would also be good competitors for Lucy, and Minerva would enjoy seeing her take down strong opponents. At least Lucy came across skilled wizards in the ancient challenge, and she hadn't battled idiots. Several fashion designers had stupidly made bland dresses and typical hats that couldn't appeal to fans of Samantha Kalos, and not having good competition meant that Minerva couldn't see how she was so well-liked.

As Minerva turned her head to look at the train coming in, she saw Rufus and Orga standing with a group of mages while they all held cameras in their hands. The townspeople were certainly ready to see the famous visitor, even having markers and hats ready for them to be autographed, and everyone watched the train's doors slowly open up. Two women with long purple hair exited the train while they wore violet dresses with the lacing at the helms designed to look like purple flames, standing on opposite sides of the door, and they had orange eyes while appearing to be dark mages from Mumargi Town.

"They're either dark mages or fashion models. I highly doubt they're the bodyguards." Minerva told Sting and Lucy, before simply watching the women fold their arms and frown.

Sting replied in an amazed manner while seeing a third woman walk out from the train to be a few steps in front of the fashionable ladies, "Whoa, that must be the visitor!"

Lucy asked while looking somewhat shocked, in awe at the woman's fashion, "Wow, that's her?"

Samantha Kalos appeared to be a slender woman who was around Minerva's age while she seemed to be tall like Clair, and her long hair was creamy blonde. Her hair was also wavy, and she had grey eyes. Samantha wore a long black coat with a V-neck, along with black fur that rimmed the cuffs of her coat, and the black fur also ran down the end of her coat. She also had a rhombus-shaped ornament on the center of her coat, having it in a black color, and the famous designer also wore a black top underneath her coat. Samantha was also wearing black straight leg trousers, and her shoes were black kitten heels that had white stripes on each shoe.

This well-liked woman also had a large black ruff around her neck, liking how it was quite feathery, and her other accessories were simply three black rhombus-shaped hair clips that were obviously in he hair. Two were on the left side of her head while one was on the right side, but all the hair clips had white stripes in the middle of them. Samantha happily waved to the crowd of people who cheered her name, posing quite elegantly for the people who proceeded to take many pictures, and she even blew kisses to some of her male fans.

Minerva watched the famous fashion designer pull out an onyx black pen from the left pocket of her coat as she walked towards a female mage who wore a light blue T-shirt that depicted dark blue slices of cake in royal blue water bubbles, and Samantha autographed her name on it. She also signed her name on various pictures of herself, before handing them back to the fans, and they squealed with joy. Samantha even gave friendly hugs to some male fans who proceeded to quickly faint from her warm hugs, and Minerva comically looked appalled at all the hype for this woman. Really, were her designs and personality incredible enough to make people fall over in happiness?

Lucy decided to pull out her purple Requiem Crystal from the left pocket of her pink dress, placing it next to the purple spell book that was on the table, and she felt like it would be great to just do some training while Samantha was busy with her fans. It wouldn't hurt to just train in the park while the fashion designer could go to a different part of the town to see more of her fans, but Lucy looked down at the crystal while Samantha's two female employees hurried over to their boss for the purpose of guarding her from crazed fans. Their orange eyes caught a quick glimpse of Lucy taking out the Starry Crystal as well, and the woman on Samantha's right side tapped her on the shoulder to make her look towards the cafe.

"Minerva, we can just talk in the park while you and Sting get to watch me test out this special-" Lucy told her friend in a kind tone as she got up, before being cut off by someone else's voice.

Samantha Kalos exclaimed to Lucy in amazed tone as she walked up to her, seeing the Starry Crystal, "Lucy Heartfilia! You're the one who's been getting all of the Rainbow Crystals, and it's fascinating that our paths finally cross! Congratulations on your achievement! It's extraordinary!"

Lucy told the celebrity in a kind tone while being somewhat nervous, shaking her right hand with her left hand, "Thank you, Samantha Kalos. Your clothes are more amazing, though. Also, your shoes look very nice and I'm wearing one of your dresses."

Samantha could only laugh in a charmed manner at Lucy's comments, quite glad to have a skilled person in her large fan club, and her eyes shifted to the Requiem Crystal. Lucy ended the handshake while explaining that she was going to try out the violet crystal's special move today, even saying how it would be very awesome to unleash, and Samantha clapped her hands at Lucy's current goal. She smiled while offering to join the group in witnessing this new move, which made Minerva look at her in a shocked manner, and the fashion designer calmly stated that it would be good for her to actually see the power of a Rainbow Crystal.

Lucy began walking to the park while Sting got up to follow her, confidently introducing himself to Samantha as the best dragon slayer in Fiore, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard did not mind that Minerva stayed at the table. The black-haired woman watched Samantha's bodyguards follow the trio, and Minerva got up to glare at the mages who hastily wanted to follow them. If Samantha was going to be in town for several hours, they could hang out with her after Lucy unleashed that special move. After all, civilians did not need to lose their lives at the price of being around a celebrity.

* * *

 **Five minutes later, in the park...**

Lucy stood in the grassiest part of the park, liking how she was surrounded by many rows of beautiful flowers, and the mage who wielded Darkness Magic felt quite glad that she was not near the fountain. After all, it would be pretty embarrassing for Sabertooth if one of their mages made a celebrity get drenched with tons of water. Samantha sat down on a brown park bench with her two bodyguards while calmly looking at Lucy, ready to see what her special move would be, and Sting stood next to Minerva as he confidently grinned at Lucy.

She hastily opened up the purple spell book, flipped through some of the pages, and Lucy found the page that had a picture of the Requiem Crystal on it. The blonde-haired wizard followed the book's instructions involving the pose, and she stretched her arms out in front of her while making her hands have the appearance of claws. Lucy soon smirked evilly before slowly taking some steps forward, similar to how a mischievous ghost would sneak up on someone to scare them, and Lucy finished her pose by letting out a ghostly moan that sounded eerie enough to make some of the townspeople feel spooked.

Samantha watched Lucy attempt to use the spell known as Dark Reisu while holding the Requiem Crystal in her right hand, only for a purple vortex of Darkness Magic to be unleashed from that hand, and the vortex was aimed straight up at the sky. It exploded in midair, but this special move only created a violet hole in the air while it began to spin in a clockwise manner. Lucy and the others put their arms over their eyes while feeling the winds get sucked into hole, along with several purple ghostly hands that rose up through the ground, and those large hands had extremely long nails that looked quite sharp.

Lucy watched the hole take in a numerous amount of ghostly hands that actually belonged to the evil souls of deceased dark mages, but the hole soon exploded! Everyone was quite surprised to see six large spheres of dark magic fall down from the sky, watching the purple spheres engulf six patches of flowers that were in the park, and the flowers began to get viciously slashed by purple blades of Darkness Magic that were shaped like scythes. Lucy was quite shocked at this spell, thinking it was somewhat stupid, but it certainly got Samantha's attention.

"Well, this is interesting." She calmly said to the women who sat on both sides of her, as she looked pretty intrigued.

Lucy told her in a somewhat embarrassed manner, putting the violet crystal back in her pocket, "I'm sorry if this excitement went to waste. My dark magic has been full of tricks, but maybe it's playing a trick on me by having this spell be so mediocre and-"

She was cut off by the sight of the spheres exploding violently, obliterating the patches of flowers in massive blasts that were purple, and Lucy dropped her jaw at the sounds of slashes still occurring. Not only did the dark magic and evil spirits slash anything that got engulfed into the spheres, but the magic would still slice at enemies to add on to the explosive damage. The blades were actually a result of the purple hands being reshaped inside of the dark hole, their slashing power being just as vicious as scratches made by those feminine nails, and Lucy could hear the evil cackling of female spirits from below while the blasts left behind purple flames that were quite hot.

The wind caused some green leaves to fall from the trees, some of them even landing on the flames, and the purple fire engulfed the leaves while mercilessly burning them. Lucy watched some of her flames double in size, making her see that this was a useful side effect that could probably be used for defensive purposes, but then all of her flames bounced up into the air for the purpose of bursting. They left behind beautiful purple glitter that slowly fell to the ground, which caused Minerva to look awestruck, and the great Samantha Kalos could only clap her hands in a joyful manner from seeing Lucy's nice performance.

She got up from the bench to tell Lucy that she was extremely happy that someone with her high level of skill could do that, also delighted that the Celestial Spirit Wizard now had all seven Rainbow Crystals, and Samantha felt like Lucy definitely deserved a good reward. In fact, Samantha actually came to this town for the purpose of showing off her newest item. It would certainly sell well at her stores, considering that she would have it at a low price with only one Rainbow Crystal as an extra requirement for the purchase, and Samantha's fans could certainly try finding Fire Crystals on Emblaze Island to easily get this new item.

Lucy watched the fashion designer pull out a pearl pink rectangular case from the left pocket of her black pants, but she also pulled out an onyx black case from the right pocket of her pants. She gracefully situated the small cases on top of her palms while happily asking Lucy about which one she wanted to keep, and Lucy kindly smiled as she was about to take the pink one. Before Lucy did that, however, she took out the Starry Crystal and threw it up into the air. It came back down quickly to land on the purple spell book, causing it to turn pink, and pink beams of light entered the book. Spells of Heavenly Body Magic were being written into the book, and Samantha widened her eyes in shock as she witnessed this. She soon looked back up at Lucy with a friendly smile, and Samantha let her take the pearl pink case.

"Are you going to get excited over that, too, or will you go see your fans who shockingly idolize you more than Sabertooth?" Minerva asked Samantha in a rather rude tone, glaring at her as she just wanted her to leave Shioru Town.

Samantha replied kindly as she closed her eyes, displaying her best frown to Minerva and her friends, "Ah, yes. I must apologize to my adoring fans for making them wait, and I still need to see more of this town. The sight of the crystal affecting that book was rather cute, but it didn't really appeal to me."

Sting told the fashion designer in a confident tone as he smiled at her, assuming she was going to see the entire town, "If you're in the mood for fish, my friend Lector should be shopping for some now. He'll echo my statement about how Sabertooth will win the Grand Magic Games! Wish us luck!"

He ran over to Lucy while Samantha started to leave with her two bodyguards, and the light dragon slayer felt like Sabertooth was definitely having a sweet day. He found it to be a bummer that Kira didn't get to meet Samantha, but the red-haired merchant would probably get another chance to see her. Sting hadn't exactly told Lector to use the money that he gave him an hour ago to buy any pictures of Samantha, but the red Exceed most likely would buy them to join in on the hype that almost everyone in Sabertooth was enjoying. Sting grinned at Lucy, before seeing that the pink case had Samantha's name printed on it in an elegant font, and he thought that they could celebrate this occasion by handling a cool job later.

As Samantha and her bodyguards walked back down to the street to reach the front of Shioru Town, Minerva could only follow her while she was intent on getting Rufus to fix the damaged flower patches with her Memory-Make Magic. The fact that some mages weren't even doing jobs right now because of Samantha Kalos being in town had certainly irked Minerva, as she didn't like people being lazy enough to shirk their work, but Minerva wondered why Samantha's frown turned into the faintest of smiles for a split second when she claimed to not find the Starry Crystal's effect on Lucy's book to be appealing. That was odd, but Minerva soon brushed it off as she thought that Samantha just reacted like that to be as weird as the fact that she had any fans at all.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 31? I decided to give Minerva some development. The Grand Magic Games arc will start in the next chapter, and it shall be awesome! I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Sunny Sightseeing and The Evening Fog**

* * *

Lucy and Kira had arrived in the city of Crocus with Rogue, Frosch, Rufus, and Minerva on this fine day. They were the mages who had been selected to compete for Team Sabertooth in the Grand Magic Games, and the members of the Sabertooth guild had an awesome party on that night to celebrate. The team felt quite calm as they walked down a street in the blooming capital, taking notice of the cobblestone road while adoring the lovely scents from all of the flowers that were planted by citizens of Crocus, and Kira happily smiled from seeing one town have so many flowers.

Lucy smiled softly at the sight of red roses in some flower pots, also liking how someone's purple pansies looked incredibly pretty, but she didn't really think it was that special. The town of Kazehana also had people who took great care of their gardens, making their flowers and flowerbeds look quite beautiful, and Lucy also came to Crocus last year for the previous tournament. She could understand why Kira gasped in excitement at the sight of some flower pots having blue cornflowers in them, as the merchant had never seen them before, and Lucy even watched Kira sniff the blue flowers to take in their lovely aroma.

Kira felt pretty psyched up for being in Crocus, since she never traveled here before to sell any items or handle jobs, and she was also feeling ready to help Sabertooth win the Grand Magic Games. As the team continued to walk down the street, Kira looked at her appearance in a glass mirror. She wore a simple red shirt with a pink skirt to match, and her flat shoes were black. She felt like it was very awesome to dress nice for success, and the red-haired protagonist had certainly trained quite hard with Rogue on Emblaze Island. That could explain why she was so excited and confident, after all.

Even though Kira and Lucy were glad about being here for the Grand Magic Games, Minerva simply walked behind the two girls while slightly frowning at the sight of their smiles. Minerva was certainly glad to be in Crocus, but she didn't like how Kira seemed so enthusiastic about Sabertooth winning. Lucy's soft smile of confidence also made Minerva be concerned with the guild's newest members actually thinking that it would be easy to win the tournament, as she knew firsthand that winning against Fairy Tail would be tough, and Minerva narrowed her green eyes as she refused to let arrogance take down her team once again.

"Listen, Kira. I understand that you're very excited to be competing for Team Sabertooth, but don't get cocky. We don't need a repeat of what happened last year with Yukino, and I don't want any wins to be make-ups for yours or Lucy's losses." Minerva explained to her allies in a stern manner, as she folded her arms.

Kira responded as she turned around to face Minerva, looking somewhat cheerful, "We trained pretty hard in those three months leading up to this tournament, Minerva. My spells have gotten much stronger, and I've devised new strategies."

Lucy added in a calm manner while also deciding to face Minerva, "In the first month of training, I mainly tested out the Starry Crystal's Heavenly Body Magic. The other two months were used for improving my other types of magic. The book didn't give me new spells for them, but the spells themselves are stronger."

The Celestial Spirit Wizard had discovered that the book could change back to any of the colors that it had been prior to being pink, solely depending on which Rainbow Crystal was placed on it, and that let Lucy work with her different types of magic. She had been pretty glad to see her Fire Magic again, also going to Emblaze Island for the purpose of improving it, but Lucy trained in a different area of the volcano. Using the magma to power up her fiery spells was what Kira also did, but Lucy found that to be the smartest strategy for getting her hot spells to be fired up.

Also, Lucy went back to the Haina Desert to make her Earth Magic gain more strength. She hadn't fought against any bandits, but Lucy was able to intimidate them by making the orange aura of the magic engulf her hands. She had aggressively punched the desert's largest rocks, breaking them into chunks, and Lucy would attempt to lift those large rocks like they were heavy weights. Sending Earth Magic into her arms really helped her with lifting those boulders, even throwing them down on the desert sand to make the ground somewhat rumble, and Lucy's spells of Earth Magic also became much stronger from how she used them to battle large sandstorms as well.

There were even people practicing karate in the Haina Desert, using Earth Magic to create large rocks that they'd chop through with their bare hands, and Lucy even saw one woman send a boulder flying with a powerful kick. It had loudly smashed into pieces upon hitting the ground, scaring off some bandits, and the wizards who trained among Lucy were certainly not afraid of bandits. Lucy had enjoyed training in that hot desert, her strength even getting the attention of one wizard who watched her from behind a somewhat distant rock, but would all of her training pay off?

Lucy had trained pretty hard in different locations with her other types of magic, but training for several hours by herself every day kept her from having dates with Sting. He had no problem with that, however, and the light dragon slayer actually wanted Lucy to work pretty hard for the Grand Magic Games. Sting purposely sounded dramatic one night in the guildhall at dinnertime when he told Lucy that the tournament would be tougher than the fights involving the Rainbow Crystals, but Lucy took his words very seriously. In fact, she started walking down the street again while planning to find the inn where Sabertooth's members would be staying. Not only did she want to show him how she was much stronger, but a date would be nice. As Lucy began walking, however, Minerva loudly cleared her throat.

"Lucy, you can go sightseeing with Kira and Rogue. Rufus and I are going to a restaurant where Orga is waiting for us. By the way, your adventures involving the Rainbow Crystals have made Sabertooth well-known. Don't take all day to sign autographs." Minerva told the blonde-haired girl in a calm tone while softly smiling at her, before smirking at the sight of Lucy looking like she was prepared to run from any obsessed fans.

Lucy replied kindly while Minerva began walking away with Rufus, "Don't worry, Minerva! I'll just share quick stories with any fans who run into me."

Rogue asked his teammates in a calm manner, "Do you think that people from Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale came here again?"

His question actually made Lucy seem somewhat nervous while she walked alongside Kira and Rogue, but Lucy wasn't intimidated by people from those guilds. She actually worried about those people asking her if it would be okay to see the Rainbow Crystals that were in the pearl pink case given to her by Samantha Kalos. Lucy actually managed to fit the thin black case into the left pocket of her blue skirt, and the crystals were actually organized in a nice manner. She'd probably show them off to a reporter who would ask for an interview, though.

As Kira happily suggested that they check out a bar, the trio soon felt a windy breeze blow past them. Lucy closed her eyes for a moment while feeling the area suddenly get windy, hearing laughter that sounded pretty familiar, and it seemed like one of Lucy's old friends was also in Crocus. Although, this guy and his certain friend who had jungle green hair were making quite an entrance to overshadow the fact that their team members merely walked into the city. As Lucy and her friends opened their eyes again and heard the winds become pretty calm, they simply kept walking while wondering who was trying to show off in the air.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in a different part of Crocus...**

Natsu and Lisanna were in the fashion district of Crocus, checking out the clothes that were displayed in the windows of some shops, and the fire dragon slayer smiled nicely as he heard his girlfriend talk about wanting to purchase some fancy dresses. Natsu thought about how it would be pretty awesome to take some S-Class jobs with Erza fighting alongside them, as that plan would generate tons of money for the team, and he would love to beat up bandits with his fiery flames. Not only would that be very fun, but he would get to see Lisanna wear nice dresses.

Natsu felt pretty pleased that they were on a team with Erza, as she could fight very well, but he didn't care for Gray being on their team. Wendy was also a decent team member, and Natsu didn't have any worries about Gajeel's team. He felt like it would be great to take down the iron dragon slayer or even fight Laxus again, but Natsu started to grin more at the thought of fighting Sting and Rogue again. That actually wouldn't be possible, since Sting was Sabertooth's guild master, but Natsu could still be thrilled about it.

He continued to stand by Lisanna's side while knowing that this would be the meeting point for Team Fairy Tail A, and Natsu hoped that his teammates would arrive. They were actually sightseeing as well, since this was a new year with some new shops opening up in Crocus, and this year would hopefully not have people come from the future or have any dragons bringing destruction to Fiore's blooming capital. The Grand Magic Games would probably be very fun, and Natsu started to grin as he felt pretty fired up to battle with someone.

As Natsu gently touched Lisanna's hands and attempted to give her a nice kiss on the lips for good luck, a sudden gust of wind blew past the duo. Lisanna was nearly blown away by the wind, but Natsu had a tight grip on her right hand that he held with his left hand. The fire dragon slayer stood his ground as he saw four members of Lamia Scale's team walking down the same street, as this area was also their meeting point for when the sun would set, and Natsu could see the winds pushing them back as well. Chelia Blendy attempted to inhale the wind, but she and Lisanna soon looked pretty alarmed as her blue eyes caught sight of someone coming down from the sky.

"Natsu, look out!" Lisanna shouted in a concerned manner, as a certain skateboarder was about to collide with him.

Natsu asked in a curious manner as he turned his head, reacting a little too late, "What the-"

"Hey, Lyon! We're finally at the meeting point! Riding the wind is awesome!" Takuya exclaimed in a psyched up manner as his skateboard comically struck Natsu in the face, before jumping down to the ground with his orange-eyed friend.

As Takuya's green skateboard fell down to the ground and rolled a few feet away from the fire dragon slayer who got knocked down, the winds faded away while Lyon and Chelia sighed in a somewhat annoyed manner. Hizuki also sighed when she saw Lisanna fall down to the ground, and the punkish girl could only tell Takuya that he needed to fix his habit of riding the wind to make dramatic entrances. Yuka looked pretty annoyed as he wondered aloud about why Takuya was here, and Toby Horhorta explained in an irked manner that Takuya and Hizuki were allowed to be here after they earned the privilege in a bet that was made in a tag-team battle against Lyon and Chelia.

Natsu got up off the ground and dusted himself off while Lisanna also stood up, and the fire dragon slayer looked pretty irritated at how Takuya knocked him down like that. The green-haired male turned to him and calmly apologized, saying that he loved the rush from riding the winds, but Natsu felt like beating down Takuya for nearly making Lisanna get blown away. She had been strong enough to put her arms around the dragon slayer and restrain him from fighting before the tournament even officially began, and Lisanna gave Hizuki an embarrassed look.

Hizuki could only tell Takuya in a stern manner to work on his landings, as he recently made the same incident occur with an outlaw that he and Hizuki needed to capture on a job, and she had felt pretty embarrassed that her teammate did that in front of some girls in the town. He was obviously attempting to impress them, and the girls had giggled from seeing Takuya supposedly be clever enough to crash down on the bandit. Hizuki felt like Takuya just loved to be a total showoff, even with the cleverness involved with Wind Magic, and she hoped that he wouldn't drag any fights out to show off all his great moves to other teams.

Natsu sternly told the clever wielder of Wind Magic that he didn't intend on losing to him, as he would kick his butt all over the city on the final day, but Takuya simply shrugged off his words while not feeling that interested in fighting him. Takuya could only bring up how he and Hizuki already had somebody on the top spot of their list of people to fight, and he wondered if that person was having fun with the Verdant Crystal in their possession. Hizuki even brought up how she was looking forward to a fight with this certain girl, and she started to explain herself as the other members of Team Fairy Tail A reached the street of fashionable shops.

"Ever since Takuya and I fought against Lucy Heartfilia, I thought about how it would've been interesting to see how she'd fare against my Plant Magic at full power. Takuya and I can be a pretty dangerous pair, and Lucy experienced that firsthand. Of course, she's beaten people who probably would've been trouble for me." Hizuki explained in a calm manner, as she adjusted her orange T-shirt and black leather shorts that went well with her black leather boots.

Takuya added in a calm manner, smiling as he remembered an encounter with a certain person who was a dark mage, "Yeah, there's no way Hizuki's plants could've torn through purple flames or withstood spells that involved hexes. Each person you battle for the Rainbow Crystals is somewhat tougher than the ones preceding them, if you go in the order of a rainbow's colors. Well, the one who gives out the Fire Crystal is the only exception. That's what the elder of Kazehana Town once told me."

Erza asked the duo in a relaxed manner as she folded her arms, "Wind Magic and Plant Magic tend to be green in color, so are you only fourth in the challenge? It's no surprise that you were tough for Lucy to handle, though."

Her words made Takuya calmly ask Erza if she thought Lucy was weak, and he surprised his teammates by saying that the third person who wielded the yellow crystal had been rumored to be pretty tough. Since Lucy kicked their butt and fought pretty well against Takuya to where it was a tie, he certainly didn't think she was weak. The second person in the challenge was supposed to be tough as well, but that really depended on who stepped up to the plate at the time. Lucy had been lucky to fight Sunahama, a bandit who wasn't very strong, but Akina certainly introduced her to how the ancient challenge could be difficult.

Erza claimed that she beat Minerva last year, which was impressive to everyone at the time, but Takuya merely yawned at her words. He went on to rudely say that people who at least got to the fourth area in the quest for the Rainbow Crystals could be somewhat tough, and beating nobodies like Minerva and Kagura last year wouldn't exactly bring Erza any fame for this year. Some experts with Water Magic and Sword Magic even once debated about Kagura being able to defeat a famous mage like Clair, but an argument in Clair's favor won out because of how she could use her strong spells in smart ways that worked well with her aggression. Even in close combat or a long-range fight, her drills of water could probably beat Kagura's sword.

* * *

 **40 minutes later, near a bakery...**

As Lucy enjoyed seeing different areas of Crocus with Rogue and Kira, she had also seen people from different guilds walking around the city as well. The blonde-haired mage and her friends had passed by the powerful Kagura Mikazuchi without anyone saying a single word, but Lucy could feel the intensity of the warrior's strength. She wondered if Mermaid Heel's team would make it past the preliminary round again, and she also hoped that Team Sabertooth wouldn't have trouble in that round. If it was a race to the finish line, Lucy hoped that her team would succeed.

Lucy had also seen some new shops in Crocus, such as one that sold magical spells for different types of magic, and there was even a shop ran by a mage with light blue hair who came from Eisetsu Town. They had been selling dolls that looked just like Princess Clair, as many young female wizards who loved to fight with Water Magic had idolized her cruel strength, and the dolls had fierce looks in their blue eyes to reference how Clair liked seeing Lucy's brown eyes of fierceness when they first met. Those dolls had sold quite well, as many parents bought them for their kids, but Lucy didn't plan on buying one.

There was a new candy store next to the bakery on this street, selling delicious cotton candy in a purple color, and it was a nice little reference to Mumargi Town. Some dark mages from there actually set up the shop while liking the idea of selling the candy that was highly praised by people who visited their town's carnival. There were even chocolate bars that were dyed purple, and the dark mages certainly didn't forget what they learned from Kyouji. They threatened the townspeople in Crocus to follow their orders to buy some candy, or they would convince all the dessert shops to take their businesses elsewhere to find customers who showed gratitude for being able to purchase cheap sweets that were very delicious.

Rogue had noticed that there was a new museum in Crocus, and Kira felt delighted about how it even had a gallery for culinary art. Apparently, that museum's curator was delighted to have a certain light dragon slayer and his red Exceed be the first people to have something nice that would be on display. Kira had giggled from hearing the curator be outside and excitedly talk about a tower of seven cheeseburgers being a masterful piece of artwork, but Rogue only sighed in a displeased manner as Frosch agreed with his opinion about how some curators didn't have the best eyes for art if they accepted something that seemed to be a basic creation.

"I think the inn's not too far from here, Lucy." Rogue told her in a calm tone as he smiled, remembering how this street was close to Sabertooth's former inn during the previous year.

Lucy replied happily as she walked past the stores with her friends, excited to see Sting, "I can't wait to tell Sting about all the new shops that are in this city, and maybe he'd like it if I bought him a blue tuxedo. After all, it would certainly look good on him."

Kira commented in a snarky manner, before giggling, "A tuxedo would be a nice improvement for his dates with you, Lucy. Although, his messy eating habits would probably get it dirty. Don't spend too much at the cleaners."

As the group continued to walk down the street, they suddenly heard the bell of the candy shop nicely ring while someone exited the store. Lucy turned around for a moment to see that it was Jenny Realight, the woman who lost to Mira in their battle last year and had to pose without any clothes on in Sorcerer Magazine, but why was a thin model like her carrying a wooden basket of candy? There was lots of candy in the basket, which was very surprising for Lucy to see, and Jenny had lots of chocolate around her mouth while she licked it up with her tongue.

She soon turned her head to see Lucy and looked startled, having heard that she met the famous Samantha Kalos, and Jenny hoped that Lucy wouldn't run off to tell that fashion designer about how Jenny was gaining more weight to be the perfect model for the designer's next line of clothes. Jenny had recently taken a job where Samantha was the client, happy to be one of the candidates who would hopefully get to star in Samantha's fashion commercial, but the designer had harshly told Jenny that she was too curvy for the new dresses.

When Jenny took offense to her appearance being disliked and began to cry about how she didn't look good enough, Samantha fired a spell of magic that landed at Jenny's feet. It not only struck the woman from Blue Pegasus and created a small explosion, but the energy waves of the attack began to make her body become more thin. She no longer had ample cleavage while the cheeks of her rear became much flatter, and Jenny also felt her arms lose at least half of their thickness while that same thing happened to her legs as well.

She currently wore a fancy red dress that managed to fit her, but Jenny hoped that Mira wouldn't see her and laugh at her for being so thin. Jenny actually looked like she hadn't eaten for several weeks, and Samantha had let her know that a person needed to have their appearance adjusted if they desperately wanted to be a model for her clothes. Jenny managed to appear in the commercial, but Samantha managed to save her reputation by giving out a fake name to journalists who were impressed with the model's thin size and her nice walk. No one outside of Blue Pegasus knew that this woman was Jenny Realight, but Lucy could even recognize her with her hair tied back in two ponytails.

"Aren't you Jenny Realight from Blue Pegasus?" Lucy asked with curiosity in her brown eyes, wanting to be sure.

Jenny responded in a worried tone, quickly walking towards Lucy to put the index finger of her hand on the Celestial Spirit Wizard's lips, "Don't ask that so loudly! It's me, but I've lost most of my precious weight and my lovely curves! My favorite dress can't even fit me anymore!"

Kira asked Jenny in a calm manner while seeing her pick up a purple chocolate bar to stuff in her mouth, seeing a purple aura surround the candy, "Aren't those sweets infused with dark magic? You know that the effects could be strange, right?"

Jenny stuffed the chocolate bar into her mouth while saying that it was no big deal, a purple aura engulfing her body as she gained at least ten pounds from eating that chocolate, and the woman with blonde hair ate another candy bar as she could feel the weight return. Jenny's curves began to come back as she ate some purple gummy worms, her body starting to look normal, but the cheeks of her rear became curvier while she also had ample cleavage. Her stomach soon became somewhat bigger, making the red dress start to have tears from being stretched, and the cheeks of her face became somewhat plump.

The protagonists soon watched Jenny put down the basket to rummage through it for a purple box of assorted chocolates that she bought, and the model smirked confidently while seeing the assorted chocolates look like large flames that were in different colors to represent their flavors. Jenny ate the white chocolate flame first, watching it make her arms be back to normal, and she ate the caramel flame to make her legs return to normal. Her love of chocolate made her be unable to resist eating the mint chocolate flame however, and Jenny also ate the cherry chocolate flame. As Jenny was now looking somewhat fatter in all areas of her body, even having a pretty plump rump, Lucy's group chose to walk away and get to the inn.

* * *

 **Seven hours later, at the inn...**

Due to Sabertooth losing against Fairy Tail in last year's Grand Magic Games, they wouldn't be staying at the Crocus Gardens inn. That place was actually reserved for last year's winners, and Sabertooth had been unfortunate enough to lose by nine points. The members of the guild were now staying at an inn that was less fancy, the walls being cherry red while the marble floor was black and white in a chessboard pattern, and there were nice paintings on the walls while this inn had numerous rooms. Many people stood in the foyer of the inn while Sting was sitting down in a red chair, and he smiled calmly.

Lucy had opened some doors on the first floor to see that the rooms had red beds with brown dressers nearby, and the only differences in the rooms were the varying colors of the vases. There were also some plants in the rooms as well, so that was nice. Lucy looked down at her mint green T-shirt for a moment to wipe off some dust that went on it, before hearing Sting confidently announce that everyone was finally in attendance, and even a blue-haired girl who came all the way from Eisetsu Town to have a week-long job as an innkeeper seemed somewhat interested in what Sting had to say next.

"All right, everyone! I know that the sightseeing was fun for all of you, and I also enjoyed it. We all know why we're here, though. Sabertooth is gonna win the Grand Magic Games!" Sting told the guild members in an excited tone to hype them up, looking pretty confident.

Lector added as he flew on to Sting's head, shifting his gaze to the team members, "Hey, team members! You all know that you have to win, and don't lose! Remember, Sting-kun told you about the battles for the Rainbow Crystals if you weren't on those adventures! Fight like those seven mages!"

Lucy asked in a calm tone as her cocoa brown eyes widened, remembering something very important, "What about the preliminary event?"

That made Sting widen his eyes in shock as he had forgotten about that, but he did hear some wealthy sponsors talk about the preliminary round involving something called the route to the sage's hamlet. No one really knew what that would involve, but it seemed like something easy. Kira grinned as she knew that a hamlet was a small village, possibly being a grassy area, and that might require wizards to run through a forest. That didn't seem to be much of a problem for someone who could create a forest fire, but would it truly be easy?

Sting got up from his chair to look out of a nearby glass window to not only see that the sun was setting, but the entire city of Crocus suddenly began to get obscured by white fog. The orange evening sky soon became obscured by white fog that was magically created, and the leaves on the trees started to turn black while the trees themselves became white. Since Raven Tail had caused problems by hurting Wendy in last year's tournament, the organizers chose to have this event start in the evening. Everyone heard several mages outside speak of their teammates running into the fog and disappearing, so fighting would be difficult.

Lucy and the other members of Team Sabertooth wasted no time with going outside of the inn, becoming startled at the sight of Crocus turning into a foggy forest, but going forward into the fog wasn't a good option. Kira calmly observed some mages running down the street while saying that they'd find their way out of this dense fog, but she soon looked surprised at the sight of one guy angrily punching a white tree. A large whirlwind soon appeared around him, before it aggressively flung him to the other side of Crocus, and his teammates were soon engulfed by the whirlwind as well.

Rogue and Lucy could hear them screaming while they were sent flying to the entrance of Crocus where there was no fog, and the protagonists also heard the sound of a buzzer. Gray's team also heard that loud buzzer from a different part of Crocus as well, and the ice mage recalled hearing that from the Hidden event. It meant that someone did something wrong, and the same thing occurred with another team who used an explosive attack to be rid of the fog. Their explosion destroyed a tree, resulting in the whirlwind also sending them flying, and let's just say that starting at the entrances of Crocus made it be theoretically hard to quickly reach the finish line.

Mato explained as his face was on a Lacrima Vision screen that appeared up in the air with enough brightness to shine through the fog, "Anyone who uses magic that destroys any plants in Crocus will be sent directly to one of the city's entrances. The first eight teams who reach the Domus Flau will compete in the actual tournament."

"You call that wind? I'll show you some real aerial power!" Takuya asked and exclaimed in a loud manner from Lamia Scale's location.

Lucy said aloud to herself as she sighed, recognizing that voice, "Fate just had to make me cross paths with that smart guy, and he's probably gonna do something to blow everyone away."

She and others watched the guy who wore a green sweater vest and khaki pants attempt to fly upward on his skateboard, only to be stopped by what seemed to be an invisible ceiling that was on level with the highest point of the white fog, and that boundary was created with magic to prevent anyone from having an eagle-eyed view of the city from above. Takuya quickly fell down, and he could be heard landing roughly on Hizuki. If this preliminary round was even giving trouble to an intelligent guy like him, then it had to be tough.

Rogue knew that Team Sabertooth was pretty far from the Domus Flau, but Rufus had memorized the entire city's layout from sightseeing earlier today. The masked man who had long blonde hair looked quite confident that he could remember where the arena was located. The issue with just running there, however, was the fact that they could run into the other teams. No one felt like wasting their time with several weak teams, as that could possibly make them lose too much time, and Lucy began to think about this event. She closed her eyes while frowning, and wondered about what to do.

Lucy felt puzzled about why she suddenly thought about the time when Minami gave Chisato an attack to prevent her other move from being used, but what if that could be a small hint? This event was not only about finding the right path to the Domus Flau, but it was also a test of how well wizards could gather information. Some wizards in Crocus were even trying to mark their trails by dropping candy on the ground, and people who weren't participating wouldn't be able to give instructions because of how the whirlwinds finished their job by splitting into several powerful gusts that blew away any loud sound waves.

As several teams kept getting lost and took out their frustrations on plants, the copious amount of whirlwinds made Lucy think for a moment. It was pretty nice to see some people getting blown away, making the streets somewhat easier to navigate, and Lucy wondered if those winds were incredibly powerful. They blew away the fog, only for it to quickly return in a few seconds, but could they somehow be used like bombs? Lucy started to cheerfully smile about making the whirlwinds explode, and she looked down at the pink book while giggling about how this idea would be hardcore.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 32? Feel free to share your thoughts on it. I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story!**


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Explosive Moves & Great Motivations**

* * *

Kira and the other members of Sabertooth watched Lucy open up her pink spell book, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard flipped through the pages to find the words that were written in bubblegum pink text. Confidence was in her brown eyes while she felt like this plan was sure to work, but Lucy had also been smart enough to look around. No one was loudly cheering about their team being the first one to reach the Domus Flau, meaning that this thick fog certainly made people get lost and confused, so Lucy needed to activate a spell that could start off Sabertooth's path to reclaiming their title as the best guild.

Lucy used a move known as Astral Star, and this spell simply caused a pink star-shaped projectile to be fired from her left hand. Lucy and her friends watched the projectile strike a flower pot that contained white tulips, creating a small pink explosion, but the sight of a large whirlwind appearing only made Lucy smile more. Her left hand was engulfed in a pink aura as she used the spell two more times, and infusing the attacks with more heavenly energy would make them become much more powerful. Could the attacks really affect a whirlwind, though?

Minerva sighed in an annoyed manner while seeing Lucy run towards the whirlwind that contained the heavenly attacks, thinking that she was wasting their time, but the black-haired woman soon gasped in shock from witnessing Lucy jump up high to be above the whirlwind. It soon detonated loudly while a large pink blast of Heavenly Body Magic could be seen, and the whirlwind's explosive force sent Lucy flying several feet away! The explosion caused some damage to a house, making rubble fall, but Lucy was safely sitting on the rooftop of a larger house.

This certainly surprised Minerva, who watched the blast's winds blow away the fog with powerful gusts, and her green eyes managed to catch a glimpse of the Domus Flau in the distance. As she and Kira both looked nonchalant about the house falling down with a loud slam to become a pile of rubble, Minerva felt like Sabertooth now had a good strategy. She was about to smash another plant for a whirlwind to appear, but the stern woman soon had her fists blocked by Rogue. Why in the world was the shadow dragon slayer trying to stop Minerva from trying to copy Lucy?

"If we all move through the air too quickly, then someone may attempt to shoot us down." Rogue stated calmly, as his enhanced hearing allowed him to hear someone firing powerful arrows that exploded upon hitting the ground.

Rufus responded for Minerva, smirking as he thought about this event, "Well, this game is far too simple. If anyone attempted to strike me, they'd only hit the afterimages that I leave behind. Besides, I remember how to reach the Domus Flau from here."

Minerva added as she walked over to Rufus, touching his right hand with her left hand as she looked annoyed at Rogue, "Well, you and Kira can go soaring through the air with Lucy. Just don't make us be in eighth place, or I'll make you all go soaring through the air in pain."

Before Kira could say anything, Rufus used his Memory-Make Magic to think about the Heavenly Body Magic that was used by Lucy. He focused on thought of how her attacks were quite fast, having so much speed, and a pink aura engulfed Rufus while he began to run at insanely high speeds with Minerva! Combining the speed of Lucy's magic with his own level of agility was quite clever, and Kira simply watched the duo zoom off while she was left with Rogue. It seemed like Rufus would reach the Domus Flau first with Minerva, but Kira smiled at the thought of turning this huge race into a smaller contest.

She purposely set fire to a plant, causing a whirlwind to appear behind her, and Kira threw five large fireballs at the large twister of wind! The heat of her attacks was immense, as the spiraling winds soon became heat waves that felt extremely hot, and the twister soon exploded! Kira turned around while jumping up high with Rogue at the very last moment, causing them to be propelled higher from the force of the fiery blast, but Rogue held his partner in his arms as he gently landed on the roof of someone's house. The two mages were now a few houses ahead of Lucy, and this idea was certainly smart.

Lucy felt somewhat surprised to know that some people in Crocus even put pots of wilting flowers on the rooftops, most likely doing this to give them more exposure to sunlight and rain, but that didn't stop her from playfully kicking two of the pots down to the ground. Upon hearing them shatter, Lucy smiled at the sight of two whirlwinds coming up from the ground to reach her. They hastily merged into one larger attack, but Lucy was not afraid of this. In fact, she felt like it would be good practice for some of the real fights in the Grand Magic Games.

She activated the second spell of Heavenly Body Magic, which was simply known as Heavenly Cannon Shot, and it surprisingly caused Lucy to shoot out a pink beam of energy! The surprising part was that it quickly curved behind her while heading towards Kira, which caused Lucy to scream out her friend's name in an alarmed manner, but the Heavenly Cannon Shot soon changed direction again to head towards the large twister! It managed to strike the large tower of winds while attempting to pierce through it, the large amount of energy making the winds become bubblegum pink, and an incredibly large blast occurred!

"Lucy, that was so awesome!" Kira told her in a happy tone while smiling, as she saw Lucy comically look worried at the fact that she was now soaring through the air at incredibly fast speeds.

Lucy replied to Kira in a hasty manner, as she was going quite far, "This big boost in speed must be the spell's aftereffect! Kira, the spell made me become much faster and it strikes from long distances! Its explosive power is very destructive!"

Rogue told Kira in a calm tone as he began running, "We should definitely try to catch up with Lucy, if we want first place in this event."

Kira ran after Rogue while smiling, pretty glad that they were now heading in the direction of the Domus Flau, but the sound of an arrow striking the roof they ran on had certainly caught their attention. Rogue and Kira both looked alert as they jumped down to the ground, seeing the house be engulfed in an orange blast, but the two mages had no time to rest. They soon found themselves running from three more arrows, each one only landing a few feet behind them, and Kira simply giggled at how it was fun that Team Sabertooth wasn't the only group who felt like this event should be approached with serious skills.

Rogue continued to run down a street with Kira while an entire team ignored them, and he could hear more arrows being fired. The two that were fired from the archer's bow surprisingly bounced off of the walls in an aggressive manner to be high in the air, and they explosively came down upon the city with maximum power. Orange massive blasts of Earth Magic could be seen while several teams screamed in pain, and Kira could only keep running alongside Rogue as she wondered why that sniping mage suddenly had such awful aim. She blushed a light shade of pink from holding Rogue's hand while they ran, and Kira was pretty glad that her guild was way ahead of the other teams.

* * *

 **20 minutes later, in front of Bar Sun...**

The members of Team Fairy Tail A were in front of Bar Sun while they had defeated several of the teams who were around this area of the city, and the guild members from Fairy Tail spent most of their time fighting enemies. Erza had been in her Heart Kreuz Armor while she wielded a weapon known as the Desert's Longbow, and it was a large bow that was orange. The arrows were of the same color while they had been made from metal that was infused with Earth Magic, and their explosive properties cleared up some of the distant fog for a short time. (I know she doesn't canonically have this weapon, but go along with it.)

Erza and her teammates decided to run on the clear path that appeared to lead them to victory, even jumping over some rubble from the damaged buildings, and the scarlet-haired mage wondered how far they would be from the Domus Flau. Some of her arrows had landed near Kira and Rogue from the Sabertooth guild, but even following last year's dethroned team wouldn't really help. As the team continued to run, Natsu and Gray turned around for a moment to see some white clouds of fog coming back. Both of the males looked pretty surprised at how Erza's hard work would probably go to waste, and this event was certainly tough.

The fog began to return, making it more difficult for Natsu's team to see where they were going, and the fire dragon slayer looked at the large amount of rubble that was behind the team. There was one large piece of rubble sticking upward like it could be used as a ramp, but Natsu had no use for that. He looked determined to find the Domus Flau, as Fairy Tail needed to keep their title as the best guild in Fiore, and he really wanted to compete on the final day of the Grand Magic Games. If the final event was consisting of epic battles in the entire city of Crocus, then Natsu definitely wouldn't want to miss out on the action.

As the team continued to run straight ahead, not caring about what they might encounter on the way to the arena, Natsu's nose caught a strong whiff of mint chocolate cupcakes. He widened his eyes in shock from hearing the loud sounds of chewing behind him, the eater's voice seeming feminine, and Natsu also heard the loud sounds of a skateboard heading towards his team. He soon found himself and his team blown forward by a mint green tornado that was headed straight for them, and Natsu's ears soon heard the familiar laughter of a certain green-haired male.

"Hizuki, we're gonna ride all the way to victory! This is certainly an awesome strategy, and we'll make this next move be for the lovely girls of Crocus!" Takuya exclaimed in a confident manner as he laughed, going at full speed on his skateboard as he saw the ramp up ahead.

The girl who wielded Plant Magic replied in a serious tone, figuring out the second part of their plan as she narrowed her orange eyes, "We'll certainly have to get the plants involved with this, Takuya, but don't leave our trail exposed for too long."

Natsu shouted up at them in an annoyed tone, as he saw Takuya soon soar through the air with his partner, "You two are on the same route as us?! Why don't you play fair?"

Gray could see that Natsu's question about playing fair was him referring to the mint green tornado that was blowing away all of the fog as it moved through the streets, smashing up several plants, and seven whirlwinds soon chased after the duo. That only caused Takuya to arrogantly smirk, however, and he made his tornado absorb the winds. It soon split into seven tornadoes that were now circling around him and Hizuki, the winds blowing outward at such a wide range, and some teams even got blown away while Takuya was defogging several areas at once.

Gray simply ran after Takuya and Hizuki while using his Ice-Make Magic to create an icy white shield that was shaped like a hexagon, and training in the icy tundra with his spells allowed Gray to improve the shield's density. He held the shield in his left hand while running, liking how it blocked Takuya's winds, and everyone else simply ran behind Gray. They all saw the members of Team Lamia Scale charging ahead, however, and Lyon looked pretty irked at how Takuya skated off from the group to handle most of the event himself.

Team Fairy Tail A simply ran after Team Lamia Scale, feeling pretty sure that they knew the way to the Domus Flau, and Natsu looked up in the sky to see Takuya skateboarding quite fast on a narrow ledge of a building's rooftop. He soon watched Hizuki unleash a spell of Plant Magic from her mouth, and it was in the form of green seeds. She gave Fairy Tail's team a rather bored look while surprisingly firing the seeds at her own team members, and this was oddly part of Hizuki's strategy. Of course, though, she did feel bad for the plants that were getting hurt in this event.

Erza widened her brown eyes at the sight of Hizuki's seeds making giant green plant roots rise out of the ground, watching them wrap themselves around the five members of Lamia Scale, and she watched the plant roots raise the wizards up into the air. They were soon thrown towards the rooftop where Takuya stopped to wait for them, but all of the team members surprisingly got flung past the rooftop and could be heard falling to the ground with a loud slam. Erza and Gray were certainly surprised at Lamia Scale's good teamwork, despite Lyon not making that be part of their team, but they'd be even more surprised by Hizuki's spell.

Wendy asked her teammates in a startled manner, as she saw the green plant roots start to be engulfed in a dark green aura, "What are we going to do about those?"

Natsu replied fiercely as he continued to smile, "I'll show that skateboarding jerk and his friend that their plants will burn as easily as I'll burn them in a match!"

Lisanna told him while she looked alarmed, feeling that those giant roots stayed around for a reason, "Natsu, no! It's a trap!"

Her words came too late, though. Natsu charged at the plant roots while flames engulfed his fists, and causing one root to be on fire made them all explode in dark green blasts of energy that were quite massive! Natsu and the other members of his team were sent flying past Team Lamia Scale, landing in a large fountain of water that was several feet away from them, and Erza couldn't requip fast enough to avoid the harsh impact from roughly hitting the water. She groaned in pain from Hizuki's explosive blasts, really feeling the power of that attack, and Erza was glad she obeyed Lisanna's warning.

The white-haired mage and her boyfriend got out of the water while Gray and Wendy also wasted no time with getting out of the fountain, and Lisanna could definitely admit that Team Lamia Scale's newest mages weren't messing around. Those giant roots were not only to help the other members get far in the race, but they were also a powerful trap. If they ever took damage, then they would explode. Lisanna could only watch the members of Team Lamia Scale continue running the Domus Flau, and she glared at Hizuki while Erza also glared at her. As Hizuki gave them a bored look and quickly pointed to her brain two times, Erza could now see how the punkish girl and her smart friend were challenging for Lucy when they first met.

* * *

 **Elsewhere, in a different part of Crocus...**

Lucy had also felt the powerful winds that Takuya used, honestly glad that he was blowing away the fog, and she could see the sun continuing to go down while the Domus Flau was nearby. Lucy looked in her pink spell book to see her third move, before running off towards the arena, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard felt like it would be easy for Sabertooth to claim first place in this event. Rufus and Minerva were probably standing at the doorway right now, not being allowed in until all of the team members were present, but Lucy wouldn't make them wait any longer.

She ran down the street while also hoping that Kira and Rogue would catch up with her, and Lucy wondered if they were in trouble. When she had fallen to the ground, Lucy felt like it would've been impossible to even go further because of the dense fog that was making her have zero visibility. Thanks to Takuya, however, Lucy could now run down the street and hopefully see her friends coming. She had heard the sounds of explosions and scuffles, though, and Lucy looked pretty worried. Were Rogue and Kira fine, or did someone knock them out?

As Lucy kept running towards the Domus Flau, seeing the long bridge that connected to its entrance, the left flat shoe on her foot soon became stuck in a crack that was on the ground. She managed to maintain her balance, keeping herself from falling, but this crack in the cobblestone ground was pretty tight. Lucy couldn't get her purple flat shoe out of it, loudly struggling with this task, and she hoped that this blunder would not be the thing to make Sabertooth not qualify for the Grand Magic Games. Her hands were on her left leg while she attempted to pull it upward, but the crack was tightly squeezing Lucy's left foot.

Her struggling got the attention of a guy who had mid-length orange hair that matched the orange cardigan sweater he was wearing, and this guy also wore brown pants as well. He wore brown boots, and this person also wore a brown shoulder bag while the handle was on his right shoulder. He walked away from what appeared to be a restaurant, his blue eyes looking stern at the sounds of Lucy grunting in a panicked manner as she struggled to get her foot out of the crack, and the stern man walked towards her as he made his footsteps be loud enough to get her attention.

"If you're a wizard in this challenge, please don't attack me! We're close to the Domus Flau, but please wait!" Lucy stated to the wizard as she looked worried, hoping that his teammates would not attack her.

The guy told her in a stern manner while closing his eyes, as an orange aura engulfed his hands, "I don't feel the need to strike you, since my teammates are arrogant enough to go eat lunch in the middle of an event. They're so pathetic. Still, let me take my frustration out on something."

Lucy asked him in a curious manner, seeing his left hand be raised upward, "What are you planning to do?"

The orange-haired stranger delivered a powerful karate chop to the area around the crack, breaking it apart with little effort, and Lucy found herself being able to remove her foot with little effort. She soon stepped back while seeing the wizard who presumably used Earth Magic give her a stern look, and Lucy calmly introduced herself to him. He calmly informed her that his name was Shinji Tobari, and he was part of a guild that recently became approved by the Magic Council. That guild wasn't big enough for anyone to think they were infamous like Raven Tail, but Shinji was a powerful mage.

As Lucy was about to thank him, he told her to start running before another team showed up. That prompted the blonde-haired girl to continue running towards the Domus Flau, only waving goodbye to Shinji, and Lucy could hear someone emerge from underground while they fiercely stated that Shinji was all alone now. She ignored the scuffle that was going on behind her, as the user of Earth Magic seemed like he could handle himself, and Lucy also heard four more people emerge from underground. This team was probably waiting here to beat up whoever confidently came passing by, but they would soon regret that.

Shinji simply gave the team leader a very powerful punch to his chest, sending him flying quite far into the ocean that was behind the Domus Flau, and he narrowed his eyes at the four remaining mages. Lucy kept running, but she turned around for a brief moment to see one of Shinji's enemies purposely break a nearby potted plant. The male with orange hair was quick to get away from them, merely watching the four members get sucked into the whirlwind, and Shinji sighed as he started walking back towards the nearby restaurant. His teammates certainly missed that scuffle, but he was glad that they didn't get injured to slow him down even more.

Speaking of not slowing down, Lucy activated her third spell of Heavenly Body Magic. It was known as Starry Speed, and this move made a pink aura appear in midair. It took the form of seven stars, making them float in midair, and Lucy grabbed all of them. They soon changed back into the aura, engulfing her body, and Lucy began to run seven times faster than normal! She was shocked to now be running incredibly fast, before going down the path that led to the Domus Flau, and even Minerva was quite shocked to see Lucy running towards the Domus Flau's entrance.

Minerva told Lucy in a calm tone while using her Territory Magic to warp her next to Rufus, interrupting Lucy's spell, "Well, you're finally here."

Lucy replied while feeling her running speed return to its normal level, smiling a bit, "This was a crazy race."

Rufus wondered aloud with a curious look on his face, "Where are Rogue and Kira?"

His question was soon answered by the sight of Kira and Rogue coming out from the street that was right across from the Domus Flau, and the two wizards were running quite fast while hoping that Sabertooth would not be in last place. Kira even activated a spell known as Hellish Heat Trail, and she kept running forward while bending her left arm backwards. She fired a large sphere of red lava from her left hand, smiling confidently as she believed that it would hit the ground, and Kira was correct. Even though it struck the ground, Kira soon ran faster while telling Rogue to also increase his speed.

This was due to the ball of lava creating a large burst of red flames when it struck the ground, heading straight for the two protagonists, and the spell would get stronger with the amount of distance between itself and the targets. The large trail of flames soon moved quicker to reach Kira, softly touching the back of her pink skirt, and Kira's attack soon exploded! Its fiery force sent Kira and Rogue flying quite far to reach their teammates, and the pumpkin-headed referee known as Mato was quick to jump up for the purpose of avoiding the collision.

Kira and Rogue respectively collided with Minerva and Lucy, causing them all to fall through the brown wooden door that would allow entry, and Rufus was quick to follow his teammates. This door warped the team to a hallway in the Domus Flau, since it was made with magic to keep the participants out of the arena until the final day, and everyone except Minerva chuckled at how Team Sabertooth arrived in a crazy style. They thought that twenty minutes was enough time for them to be dropped down into last place, but the sight of a large feast in the room behind them with a small golden trophy in the shape of a whirlwind on the table informed them of the completely opposite answer.

* * *

 **10 minutes later...**

As everyone sat down in the brown chairs that were around the brown square table, glancing at the white tiled floor that matched the brown walls, Kira was the only person who didn't give a satisfied look to the many plates of food. There were even large cherry cupcakes on a plate that she surprisingly hadn't touched, which was pretty odd for the quirky lover of sweets, and the fire-wielding mage was deep in thought. She was not thinking about how the battles in the Grand Magic Games could be tough, but her performance in today's event certainly weighed on her mind.

Despite the fact that she and Rogue didn't run into any major battles, Kira had witnessed wizards fighting each other while they were quite skilled with their magic. It had been somewhat frustrating for her to see that, as she thought that the way she worked pretty well with Fire Magic would give her an advantage over the other competitors, and arriving to the Domus Flau thirty seconds later than Lucy made Kira feel like she needed to work harder at keeping up with her blonde-haired friend. As Kira looked down at her pink skirt and clenched her fists, Minerva got up from her chair to make an announcement.

"Well, Team Sabertooth, the events and battles of the Grand Magic Games begin tomorrow. Go back to the inn and get some sleep, but I will strictly warn you to not burden the team. Also, don't get excited on the inauguration day." Minerva explained to the team with a stern look on her face, her green eyes filled with strictness as she locked eyes with Kira during her second and last sentences.

Kira responded in a frustrated manner, surprising almost everyone as she got up, "I won't let Sabertooth down, so don't even think of underestimating me! Just because I don't show my skills very often, that doesn't mean I'll just be a burden!"

Rogue told Kira in a calm tone as he looked at her, understanding that she thought Minerva was being rude, "Minerva is very stern, but she's not against you. She just took Sabertooth's loss very hard last year, especially since it came in the form of Sting surrendering. She wants you to show off your best skills, even if she doesn't say it in the nicest way."

The shadow dragon slayer noticed that Kira had not taken any of the food that was on the large plates of the feast, and he heard her stomach start to growl loudly. Rogue fixed that problem by calmly getting three cherry cupcakes to put on Kira's plate, along with pouring cherry soda from a nearby bottle into the red wine glass that was next to her plate of desserts, and he smiled kindly from watching Kira stuff one of the cupcakes into her mouth. He not only wanted her to eat something, but lifting her spirits up was also necessary.

After all, the Grand Magic Games could be fun. Having a good time in the tournament required Sabertooth to not let confidence or tension get in their heads, and Rogue would also make sure to keep Sabertooth's team members from aggravating anyone else. He refused to allow Minerva to repeat anything like what went down in the Naval Battle, and the way she defeated Kagura and Milliana was malicious enough to make Erza feel immense rage. Erza's emotions played a role in the green-eyed woman's defeat, and history did not need to repeat itself.

As Rogue began to think more about how Sabertooth could prevent their own downfall, he saw Kira get up from her chair to take the entire plate of red velvet cookies that was near Rufus. He saw Minerva slide the large plate of salty french fries and cheeseburgers towards Lucy, who was happy to finally start eating, and Rogue hoped that it would not be hard for Lucy to fight someone from Fairy Tail. She did have history with them, especially the members of Team Natsu, but no one in the Grand Magic Games planned on holding back. Last year's participants raised the bar, in terms of power, so how would Team Sabertooth truly fare?

Kira picked up her red wine glass to take a large sip of her soda, loving how it tasted, and she set the glass back down in time to see Minerva turn her attention from a large plate of salad to Lucy. Even though Minerva had some concerns about Kira, she was also hoping that Lucy would fight with a high level of smarts. Even though the door to their celebratory room was shut, Minerva and the others heard the members of Team Lamia Scale scream as they were now the second team to fall through the entrance door of the preliminary event. People would not only fight for their teams, but several spectators would be watching.

"Lucy, you should also focus on fighting very well. Not only will Fairy Tail be watching you, but the people you fought against for the Rainbow Crystals may also be watching. Remember, it's a televised event with Lacrima Vision screens being set up to appear in many areas of Fiore." Minerva told Lucy in a concerned tone, deliberately trying to make her teammate go from being confident to being much more motivated.

Lucy replied in a somewhat startled manner after swallowing her food, her cocoa brown eyes having a look of realization in them, "I wasn't planning to show off in any of the fights, but I may have to do that. After all, I know that one of them will be watching me very closely."

Rufus asked her in a curious tone while sitting next to her, adjusting his red hat, "Which one would be observing you the most?"

Lucy clenched her fists gently as she openly stated that it would be Clair, the powerful wielder of Water Magic who spared Lucy and Sting when they fought against her and Hayato in the icy tundra, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard had not forgotten that Clair told her how they'd someday have a rematch. That battle was tough for Lucy, but she had gotten much stronger and smarter to even defeat people like Kyouji and Chisato. She wouldn't go into any battle with overconfidence, and she'd make her opponents deal with the same levels of difficulty that she had to endure in the ancient challenge.

As Lucy thought about using her newest type of magic to make the heavens send down their fearsome astral rage on enemies, Kira also began to think about making the heat be turned up with her Fire Magic. She hadn't forgotten the day when Lucy went all the way to Emblaze Island to handle Matsurika Ringo and her gang from Hell's Blaze, and the red-haired merchant had trained quite hard in the volcano. She liked how Lucy now had the power to send enemies up into the heavens with her fierce power, but Kira could also make them experience the hot fires of hell.

On top of that, she had been working on some new techniques. Kira wanted them to be helpful in battles, hoping that they would help Team Sabertooth earn points, but Kira also wanted to impress Rogue. There were some spells he didn't get to see during their training on Emblaze Island, and putting a smile on his face would make Kira feel totally delighted. There was more motivation involved with her desire to win, though. Kira began to have determination in her hazel eyes as her gaze shifted to Lucy, feeling like they could be matched in strength, and the thought of fighting her someday made Kira have a psyched feeling in her stomach.

She had witnessed Lucy's epic fight against Kyouji, even seeing her Darkness Magic create hot flames when she showed it off for Samantha, and Kira imagined her own flames having the same level of heat. She could even create magma that was quite hot, even using it in some amazing techniques, and Lucy could probably be just as amazing with her own Fire Magic. Even if Kira would have to fight some tough opponents in the Grand Magic Games, she was glad that Lucy would be the one watching her fight while she'd also get to see some spells that even Matsurika would consider as being too hot to handle.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 33? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. I'd like to thank everyone who has followed, favorited, and reviewed this story!** **Also, someone asked me if Takuya and Hizuki can both fight in a battle or event. Yes, they will mostly fight together as one unit. Just like how the Celestial Spirits are sometimes part of Lucy's techniques, Hizuki's spells are sometimes part of Takuya's moves. Vice-versa, too.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Grand Magic Games, Day 1: Rings & Rivals **

* * *

Lucy and the other members of Team Sabertooth were currently sitting down at tables in a coffee shop, everyone having hot cups of sugary coffee that were cooled by whip cream, and the team felt glad that they all woke up in confident moods. Getting first place in the preliminary event was quite a great feat, especially since it didn't take long for more teams to arrive, and this meant that Sabertooth could be the last team to come out during the inauguration day of the tournament. That certainly gave them time to think about how they'd show off for the crowd.

Minerva simply frowned at Lucy, who wanted to make everyone go on to the field with happy cheers, and the green-eyed woman felt like that was too typical. Minerva merely thought about how it would be great for the team to simply walk on to the battlefield in a somewhat calm manner, almost like how a champion would slowly approach the battlefield when they had to face a challenger, but she also thought about how some people would be quick to approach the team. The mages from Fairy Tail certainly would, and that meant Lucy would finally have to face her old friends.

She hadn't spoken with them in quite a long time, and they only heard about her progress in the ancient challenge from newspapers or the people that Lucy had to face in the challenge. Minerva narrowed her eyes at the thought of Erza possibly saying some bad things to Lucy, and she didn't want her team to get caught up in drama with the fairies. If Erza did say anything, however, then Minerva would just turn those remarks around on her. After all, Erza would be in no position to judge Lucy. Based on what she had heard from Sting and Lector for the past few months, Lucy's performances in the ancient challenge were quite stellar.

Even though Minerva didn't want serious drama to transpire, she still frowned at Lucy while hoping that she wouldn't mess around in the tournament. Playing around too much and getting really cocky were Sabertooth's biggest blunders in the previous year, and Minerva did not want Lucy to show off for Sting. She felt like the fights that involved Sabertooth needed to be finished in a swift manner to obtain victory, and Minerva gently tapped her fingers down on the table to get Lucy's attention. She hoped that Lucy wouldn't be arrogant, and this little lecture would be vital for her.

"Lucy, please don't show off all your spells to our enemies. If you do, then they'll obviously form strategies to beat us. I know that you're strong, but you better end your battles with one strike." Minerva explained to Lucy in a serious tone, as she watched Lucy take the last sip of her coffee.

The girl who currently wielded Heavenly Body Magic replied calmly, feeling unsure about that, "Minerva, Sting once said that the competitors here are tougher than the people from the ancient challenge. It may not be possible to finish someone off with one hit, but I'm smart enough to make my spells be used cleverly."

Minerva asked her nicely while smiling softly, wanting to see how Lucy would react, "Do you think that you can control yourself in the situation of fighting Erza or anyone else from Fairy Tail?"

That question caused Lucy to look down at her cup for a moment, not really thinking about how she'd act around the people who hadn't seen her in months, but she soon raised her head back up with her brown eyes narrowed. Leaving Fairy Tail had solely been her decision, and she would stick by it. Not only did Lucy join Sabertooth for a fresh start, but she also wanted more fun adventures with Sting. Those were her motives were leaving, along with wanting to be around Kira and Lector, but it wasn't like everyone was fine with her decision.

She recalled how Natsu thought she was just leaving Fairy Tail to be with Sting, remembering how he even assumed that Lucy was using the light dragon slayer to get payback for how she was rejected, and seeing Natsu would probably be problematic. Gray was a very calm and reasonable person who didn't tend to overreact when things happen, and he would most likely be very proud of Lucy for becoming incredibly strong. She would certainly show him the seven Rainbow Crystals that symbolized how she fought some tough wizards, if he nicely asked to take a quick look at them.

Wendy was someone who Lucy would be very happy to see, since they were friends, but the thought of seeing Erza again caused Lucy to softly clench her fists. The sword-wielding woman had been incredibly strong, even having a powerful armor that could bend the laws of magic, but Lucy felt like Erza would chastise her for putting herself into such dangerous situations. She probably still perceived Lucy to be weak, as Erza hadn't seen her new abilities firsthand, and any rude words that came from the scarlet-haired girl's mouth would merely be ignored by Lucy.

Lucy began to grin confidently at the thought of Erza scolding her, however, and she would just tell her former friend that the battles were very enjoyable. To Lucy, those fights felt so intense like she was fighting S-Class wizards. Despite how they weren't S-Class wizards, almost everyone in the ancient challenge fought with powerful magic to really be at that same level. If Erza would reprimand Lucy for putting herself in danger, then Lucy would just bring up how Erza would not have stood much of a chance against people like Takuya or Kyouji. After all, their strategies were certainly clever enough to trip up even the most experienced wizards.

"I think I'll be able to control myself around them, Minerva. By the way, do you think Sting will be in the stands?" Lucy kindly said to Minerva, before asking her a question as her brown eyes became filled with curiosity.

Minerva replied nicely, recalling how Lector liked being in the booth, "Sting and Lector will be in the same area as us, but they'll just be watching. I can just hear Sting cheering you on right now, Lucy."

"He'll cheer very loudly while you're tearing people to pieces, Lucy!" Kira added while giggling as she sat at a nearby table with Rogue, imagining Sting's cheers from seeing Lucy rip someone to shreds.

The Celestial Spirit Wizard blushed a light shade of pink at the thought of Sting cheering her on, since she would love to hear him be so encouraging, and Lucy would definitely give him a kiss on the lips if she won a fight. However, she wouldn't exactly make someone be torn to shreds. Killing an opponent was still prohibited in the Grand Magic Games, and Lucy would just have to knock out her opponent. She turned around to look at Kira while hoping that she wouldn't have much trouble, as this was her very first time competing, but Kira soon gave her a grin of great joy.

There was no surprise that Kira was excited for today, and Lucy also felt confident. Her old friends in Fairy Tail could definitely be an issue, but Lucy was going to help Sabertooth succeed in the Grand Magic Games. As she heard Kira get up and declare that she would get a delicious hot dog on her way to victory, Lucy could only watch her run out of the coffee shop while Rogue chose to run after her. Minerva quickly got up from the table while Rufus and Orga got up as well, all of them proceeding to follow their friends, and Lucy got up from her seat while picking up the pink spell book from the table with her right hand as she ran after them.

* * *

 **30 minutes later, in the Domus Flau...**

The time had finally come for the inauguration of the Grand Magic Games in the year X792, and small fireworks in different colors were shot up into the air. Many spectators filled the rows of seats, and the guild masters were in the stadium's booths where the teams would be located while the non-competing members sat down on pink chairs that were also in the booths. The judges were in their own booth that was near the king's booth, and the main announcer known as Chapati Lola was testing his mic to make sure that it was working.

Minerva was correct about the event being televised, as people in towns near and far from Crocus could now use Lacrima Crystals to see the event, and the people who Lucy met were watching the event. Clair climbed out of the pool that was in her palace while she wore a two-piece light blue bikini, seeing Hayato wear his blue swim trunks as he turned on the Lacrima Crystal to see the tournament on a large screen that appeared in midair, and the sight of the Grand Magic Games was quite interesting to her. This would be their first time watching the tournament, and Clair simply looked relaxed as she stepped on to the blue tiled floor to see how different it was from the Fiore Winter Games.

The tournament was even seen by dark mages in Mumargi Town, as Kenji let the sponsors set up a Lacrima Vision screen in the center of the carnival, and several of the tourists stood next to the mages as they decided to watch the tournament. Misora and Kenji stood against a concession stand that sold cakes while they decided to observe the Grand Magic Games, and the man with purple hair thought about Lucy as he began to smile. Kenji actually hoped for her to be in something like this, since Sabertooth was a good guild.

The Grand Magic Games were even being watched by the elder of Kazehana Town, as she sat down on the counter of the cafe that Takuya ran with Hizuki, and her Lacrima Crystal was on a table. She actually smiled kindly from sensing Wind Magic being used yesterday, as that most likely coincided with how Takuya came back to Kazehana a week before the games to tell her about how he and Hizuki would be competing, but she hoped that he would not use Zephyr Hurricane. As the elder and others looked at the spectators cheering on the Lacrima Vision screens, the cameras soon focused on Chapati.

"Welcome to the Grand Magic Games of X792, everyone! My name is Chapati Lola! It is good to see that there are so many spectators this year, and we're all excited to find out who will be the best guild in Fiore! Let's get ready to see the eight teams who managed to get through the fog!" Chapati announced in a thrilled manner, making the spectators cheer and roar excitedly.

Yajima added in a calm tone while smiling, as he also referenced Raven Tail, "Hopefully, everyone keeps the competition fair. We don't want to see any guild masters and their teams taking on one person."

Jenny Realight stated with a happy smile on her face, looking somewhat chubby while she was the guest judge for today, "I wonder if we'll get to see any phenomenal people."

The teams were now ready to be announced, and they would be announced in ascending order from the team that placed eighth to the team that managed to get first place in the race. The teams would come out of the different hallways that led to the battlefield of the Domus Flau, since putting everyone in one hallway would make things be far too crowded, and several spectators were wondering if Fairy Tail was going to have two teams compete like last year. If that was the case, then hopefully nothing would occur to where they'd have to form one team.

The first team to be announced was Team Quatro Cerberus, who placed eighth. Their team consisted of Bacchus Groh, Rocker, Yeager, Nobarly, and Semmes. The team had been comically weak last year, but could they do better this time around? They were the first team to come out of the hallway, and they got booed for their past performances.

Next, was Team Mermaid Heel. They ended up being the seventh team to get through the fog, and their team members were Kagura Mikazuchi, Milliana, Beth Vanderwood, Risley Law, and Ariana Webb. Kagura hoped that her team would achieve higher than fourth place this year, and she calmly walked on to the field with her teammates.

The third team to come out of a dark hallway was Team Haina Ganseki, resulting in cheers from many spectators who had come from Nichibotsu Town, and several of the people recognized the orange-haired leader of the group right away from how he completed many jobs. He was Shinji Tobari, the guy who helped Lucy get her foot out of a crack, and his teammates simply smiled as they walked on to the sandy battlefield. Shinji, however, looked irked at how their appetites made them only be in sixth place. (The other members will be introduced later in the tournament, just so you know.)

Jenny Realight asked Yajima and Chapati with a confused facial expression, hearing that guild name somewhere before, "Isn't that one of the newer guilds in Fiore?

Chapati explained calmly to Jenny while also speaking into the microphone, "After a report of someone taking treasure from the ruins in the Haina Desert, Shinji and others came along to train in the desert. According to a news report, he took out all the guild members of Quicksand Tomb by himself while his friends watched. Apparently, that made the new mayor of Nichibotsu decide to have the town create the legal guild known as Haina Ganseki in his honor."

After them, it was time for Team Blue Pegasus to step on to the field. The members of this team were Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki, Hibiki Lates, Eve Tearm, Ren Akatsuki, and Nichiya. Despite the fact that the team placed fifth in the preliminary competition, Jenny still happily applauded her teammates and congratulated them for making it to the actual tournament.

Then, Team Fairy Tail A entered the arena. The sight of Fairy Tail's wizards made the crowd cheer loudly, pretty happy to see that Erza was on the same team as Natsu again, and several people also cheered Gray's name as well. Wendy and Lisanna were also pretty happy to be on this team, waving kindly to the people who were in the stands, but it had been a bummer that they had actually been mere inches behind the third team to reach the Domus Flau in yesterday's race. Despite getting sent flying into a fountain by Hizuki's explosive spell, fourth place was pretty good.

The team who managed to get third place had been Team Fairy Tail B, earning the guild more rousing cheers, and Natsu simply glared at the team for nonchalantly passing up Team Fairy Tail A when both teams were running on the bridge that led to the Domus Flau. The team consisted of Gajeel, Mirajane, Laxus, Cana, and Juvia. Jellal Fernandes would not compete, due to him and Meredy searching for the popular Rainbow Crystals in an effort to see if they were somehow tied to Zeref, and Makarov had advised Jellal to check the areas that were featured in news articles that focused on Lucy. (The crystals have nothing to do with Zeref, just so you know.)

Afterwards, Team Lamia Scale was announced as the team who received second place. Much to the surprise of Gray and his team members, Jura chose to be in the stands today while the other members walked into the arena. Well, two of them actually skateboarded beside the other members while getting a boost from Wind Magic. Takuya and Hizuki soon used the wind to soar into the air, before gently kicking the board down to the ground, and Takuya used Wind Magic from his left hand to create some winds that were aimed at the board. His green skateboard stood straight up while it began to spin quite fast for at least 75 seconds, a skateboarding trick that impressed several girls this morning, and many women watched Takuya float down to the ground with Hizuki as they thought he was cute. However, let's just say that not everyone was a huge fan.

"Hey, you jerk! You made my team get sent flying into the fountain yesterday! Also, quit trying to impress all the girls here! You probably don't fight as well you skate, and I'll beat you down!" Natsu exclaimed with a comically angry look while walking over to Takuya, before Gray restrained him.

Gray told Natsu in a scolding manner, not wanting him to start a fight, "Flame-brain, wait for your chance to fight him! The battles haven't begun yet!"

Takuya replied to Natsu in a somewhat relaxed manner, before snickering, "I fight pretty well, pink-haired dude. The girls enjoy my skateboarding tricks, but here's some advice. The mages in the ancient challenge don't mess around, so don't say I didn't warn you."

As Gray dragged Natsu away from Team Lamia Scale, Wendy and Lisanna remembered that there was still one team left to announce. Lisanna wondered if Lucy had been on the team that was competing for Sabertooth, feeling nervous to wonder if they made it past the preliminaries, and seeing the Celestial Spirit Wizard again would be exciting. After all, Lisanna had not really talked with Lucy after Natsu made her experience the feeling of rejection. However, she hoped that Erza would not say anything to make Lucy view the team in a bad light.

Chapati announced that Team Sabertooth was the first-place team, causing the Domus Flau to shake from the immense amount of cheers, and Lisanna gasped in shock from seeing the team walk out on to the field. Natsu turned his head to the left see Sting and Lector up in Sabertooth's booth with Orga, all of the males cheering for their teammates, and the fire dragon slayer turned around to see Sabertooth's newest team come out of the hallway. In fact, he and Erza both looked quite amazed from seeing who their biggest competition would be.

Lucy wore a light blue midriff shirt with a yellow skirt and orange flat shoes to match, looking quite confident as she stepped into the arena with her teammates, and Kira wore a red crop top with orange jeans to match while she wore some yellow boots. Their teammates simply stayed in their normal clothing, but Fairy Tail's mages were all surprised to see Lucy again. Some of them were curious about Kira, wondering who she was, and the red-haired merchant simply gave them confident smiles while looking ready to fight.

Minerva stood next to Lucy while slightly putting her left hand on Lucy's right shoulder, her emerald green eyes looking down at the left pocket of the younger girl's skirt, and Lucy could hear many people in the crowd cheering her name. Several of those people heard about her success in the ancient challenge while some people were impressed with some of her different fights that they heard about, and Lucy felt just as famous as Samantha Kalos. She simply smiled while a Lacrima Vision screen focused on her, and Lucy reached into her skirt's pocket to get the pearl pink pink case. She proceeded to open it up, and everyone got to see the seven Rainbow Crystals lined up in a row.

"Whoa, Lucy's got all of the Rainbow Crystals! That's amazing!" Wendy said with a very satisfied look on her face, very happy for her friend.

Erza calmly said while folding her arms, believing that she could take Lucy down, "That's no big accomplishment. She probably got lucky in some of those fights."

Lucy told the crowd as she giggled confidently, pretty proud to be here, "Sabertooth is going to be the best guild in Fiore! We'll do great this year!"

Lucy turned to face her competitors, seeing that Lyon Vastia and Kagura Mikazuchi seemed very eager to fight against her, and her brown eyes soon caught sight of Erza. Her cheerful smile soon turned into a frown as the girls locked eyes, clearly knowing that they had business to settle, and Erza started off the conversation by telling Lucy that she'd apologize for everything that happened. Lucy was surprised from feeling that Erza would finally admit that she caused the conflict, but the woman who was in her Heart Kreuz Armor sternly told Lucy that they'd talk after beating her down easily.

That only made Lucy glare at her while feeling insulted, and she clenched her fists. Erza had the nerve to talk to her like that, and she still thought Lucy was weak? Getting all of the Rainbow Crystals certainly made Lucy not be a weakling, and she calmly told Erza that they'd find out sometime soon about who would get beaten down to the ground. Erza merely shrugged off her response while seeing Minerva walk towards them, watching her calmly say that it was quite rude to disrespect an old friend, and Erza felt irked from Minerva mockingly saying that she could share secrets with Lucy and not lose her trust in their friendship.

Erza wanted to call her an evil sadist, but Kira surprised her and Minerva by letting out a psyched up yell and pointing straight at the competitors from other guilds. She told them that her name was Kira Blazia, and she even went so far as to claim that she would kick all of their butts. Erza and Minerva were both glaring at Kira for breaking the tense moment, Lucy even telling Kira to not say that so confidently, but Kira simply giggled while telling Lucy that Erza was below Akina's level. That caused Erza to fiercely glare at Kira, but Gray restrained his teammate. Kira sighed happily while feeling good from letting out her excited feelings, and Rogue just smiled at Kira's determination.

* * *

 **Five minutes later...**

Now that all of the teams were announced, Chapati felt like it was time for the first event of the Grand Magic Games to begin. He smiled in an excited manner while informing everyone that the event would be known as "Ring Toss", and that seemed quite simple. He also brought up how the competition would last five days, just like in the previous tournament, and that made some people feel motivated to do well. Several wizards went into the booths where their teams could watch the event, leaving their teammates on the field to quickly decide who would be the best ring tosser, but all of Sabertooth's mages stayed on the field.

They were trying to decide which one of them would compete in this event, even though Minerva could just warp the rings to wherever they needed to be thrown, and Rufus simply smiled as he suggested that Lucy do it. That made Lucy gasp a bit, not expecting to compete on the first day, but Rufus calmly told her to remember that she had obtained the seven Rainbow Crystals. Since all those months of training were now over, it was time for her to show off the results. Before Lucy could even question her friend's judgment, Minerva warped herself and the other members up into Sabertooth's booth.

Lucy would be competing against Lyon from Team Lamia Scale, and she'd also be competing against Cana from Team Fairy Tail B. Wendy decided that it would be best for her to compete for Team Fairy Tail A in this event, since tossing rings seemed easy, and Eve chose to participate for Team Blue Pegasus. Shinji chose to compete for Team Haina Ganseki, Beth decided to try her best in this event, and Rocker chose to show off his wildness in this event for Team Quatro Cerberus. Would this event truly be so simple?

When all the participants stepped forward, Mato happily ordered the field to appear. The wizards were soon raised high into the air by thin buildings that appeared underneath their feet, which was quite startling, and everyone took notice of some thin buildings appearing across from them. They were somewhat distant while the rooftops all had long poles in different colors situated on them, and seven rings soon appeared on the ground in front of each building that the wizards stood on. The rings were in different colors for the teams, but how were they going to throw them while being so high up?

Chapati calmly explained to the contestants and the spectators, hoping they would understand this game, "The name of the game is Ring Toss! In this challenge, you must get the rings up from the ground and get them on your pole! The first contestant to get all seven rings will get first place, but you have to toss the rings without using your hands. If you can get all seven rings on the pole at once, your team will receive bonus points. Your time limit is 30 minutes!"

Lucy thought to herself as she looked somewhat nervous, gazing down at the seven gold rings that were near her building, _"This will be interesting."_

Sting cheered joyfully as he could see Lucy's face appear on the Lacrima Vision screen, "Go, Lucy! You can totally do this! Send them flying!"

The gong was struck for the event to start, and Lucy to open up the pink spell book. She activated her fourth spell of Heavenly Body Magic, which was known as Astral Psi, and this move caused Lucy's eyes to change from brown to bubblegum pink. She raised her hands in a slow manner while looking down at the rings, causing them to float upward while a pink aura soon surrounded them, and Lucy kept her hands upward while the aura understood her commanding thought of making the rings ascend quite high. She wouldn't just put them all on the pole, so this was a strange strategy.

As Lucy soon made her rings float upward at a faster pace to have them be several meters above the Domus Flau, Lyon from Lamia Scale used his Ice-Make Magic to create a green owl. He grinned with confidence as he ordered the owl to fly down and pick up a green ring, watching it swoop up two of them with its talons, and the silver-haired wizard watched his icy ally put two rings around the green orb that was atop the pole. The rings slid down the pole while the scoreboard now showed that Lyon was in first place with two points, but he wouldn't be the only person with a good plan.

Cana used her Card Magic to create a whirlwind that blew around her orange rings, but this wind was from an Air Spring Card. When lots of wind got underneath the rings, they were propelled upward with great amounts of force! Everyone except Lucy watched Cana land at least five rings on her pole's orange orb, which was impressive, but the spring's force unfortunately made two rings just fall next to the pole. This was certainly a test of patience, as a careless move could make someone lose the event by just one ring, and the clock was ticking as they spent precious moments with thinking.

Lucy decided to use he fifth spell that was known as Starry Meteorite, and it caused two pink beams of heavenly energy to be fired from her left hand. They struck two of the rings while creating pink explosions, and those rings went flying towards her gold pole. The psychic abilities of Astral Psi were still in effect, allowing Lucy to make those rings gently land on the gold orb to slide down, but she wasn't done. Lucy activated her sixth move that was called Starry Rends, and this move worked in a similar manner to Chisato's barrier. Lyon watched Lucy as his owl put two more rings on the pole, and he was quite curious.

 _"If Lucy fought someone who used Heavenly Body Magic, then what did she learn from them?"_ He wondered to himself in a startled manner, seeing a pink aura surround her left hand.

Shinji simply said as he looked over at Lucy, frowning a bit, "It'll be nice to see how she handles this."

Lucy waved her left hand up at the rings in a slashing manner, creating a slashing wave of heavenly energy, and she watched the attack create a large pink blast in midair when it struck the rings. These rings were impervious to magic, meaning that it couldn't damage them, and the side effect of this spell made a pink sphere surround two of the rings like a barrier. Lucy was now looking at the pole while thinking about it for a moment, and the pink sphere soon warped to the top of it in a few seconds. This spell was not only used for attacking targets, but it also warped them in the direction where Lucy was facing for her to either be distant or follow up with a long-range attack.

She was now even with Lyon, having four rings each, and Lucy also observed Cana looking through her cards to find a spell that could get those two rings on the pole. Wendy inhaled air to make three of her red rings rise up from the ground, before aggressively kicking them upward to make them land on the red pole, but Lucy was going to take first place in this contest. Lucy unleashed her seventh and final spell of Heavenly Body Magic, and it was known as Heavenly Meteor Shower. This felt like a pretty serious spell, as a bubblegum pink aura engulfed Lucy's body, and it was going to be unleashed.

Lucy fired a large pink ball of energy while she proceeded to look straight up, watching the attack soon explode in midair, and several pink beams of Heavenly Body Magic rained down from the sky! Lucy's eyes were still pink for her to control them with her psychic abilities, and she made seven of the beams strike the three remaining rings. The explosions occurred one after the other, bouncing the rings through the air, and the seventh explosion sent the rings flying high. They were quick to come down, however, and Lucy watched her rings land on the golden pole. The remaining projectiles all struck the ground, creating several pink blasts of energy that created large gales throughout the stadium, and this was all happening on the tournament's first day.

The smoke cleared up quickly to reveal that Lucy's pole had all seven rings on it, effectively getting first place for Sabertooth, and the Lacrima Vision screen took notice of Lyon's damaged owl putting the last three rings on the green pole for Lamia Scale to get second place. Lucy simply bowed to the crowd as she felt the house she stood on begin to lower itself down to the ground as a way of symbolizing that she was done, and the blonde-haired girl happily waved up to her teammates who were quite pleased with that performance.

"Wow, that was pretty fun." Lucy said to herself while giggling, as her eyes became brown again.

Lyon told her as his thin house lowered down as well, looking quite satisfied, "Well, Lucy, you're certainly an interesting person who I'll watch in this competition."

Chapati exclaimed as he looked thrilled while the cameras focused on Lucy, "With a few starry moves, Lucy Heartfilia wins! I'll tell you, folks! This girl has some skills!"

Even though Lucy won, the event was not over. Wendy and Cana now battled for third place, and the blue-haired dragon slayer managed to blow three of her remaining rings on to the pole. Wendy had certainly been practicing with her Sky Dragon Slayer Magic, and she even applied it to her feet for the purpose of kicking that last ring to the top of the pole. Wendy managed to get six points for Team Fairy Tail A, and Cana threw a Spring Card at her two remaining rings. They bounced up into the air, and finally got on the orange pole to make Team Fairy Tail B get four points.

Eve from Blue Pegasus used his Snow Magic to create a blizzard that blew five of his rings on to the blue pole, before he did the same thing to the two rings that remained, and he earned three points for his team. Shinji simply jumped down to the sandy battlefield, which wasn't against the rules, and he surprised everyone by making sand rise up from the ground while it was shaped like a cloud. The stack of rings rested on the sand while they were carried upward to be directly above the purple pole, and Shinji closed his left fist to make a hole appear in the cloud's center. All seven rings fell out of the dense sand to land on the pole, and getting all seven rings successfully tossed at once resulted in bonus points.

This event was actually suggested by dark mages who had come to Crocus several months earlier to handle jobs, talking about their town's carnival games, and the carnies in Mumargi Town would give out bonus prizes to whoever successfully tossed all the rings on to bottles during their first attempt. The sponsors found it only fair to give Shinji some bonus points, making Haina Ganseki now have ten points instead of two, but spectators like Happy and Levy curiously wondered if Shinji was calmly waiting to do that when he had less opponents to deal with.

Beth also climbed down from her building to use her Vegetable Magic, making a giant carrot sprout from the ground while kicking her pink rings on to it, and she picked up the rings with her mouth. When her large carrot got to the top of the pink pole, she placed the rings on it. Rocker from Quatro Cerberus was also on the ground, using his Drill 'n Rock spell to make his legs spin like a drill, and his physical strength allowed him to swiftly kick the rings to the top of the brown pole. He was mere seconds behind Beth, though, and Team Mermaid Heel got one point while Team Quatro Cerberus got zero points.

Jenny happily told everyone in the stadium, smiling cutely, "Now that the event is done, please wait for the battle portion of the day to begin!"

Lucy thought to herself while walking into a hallway that would lead her to Sabertooth's booth, still maintaining her confident smile, _"I wonder if me or Kira will battle today."_

* * *

 **15 minutes later...**

After the houses disappeared from the field, the battles of day one could now begin. They would be one-on-one fights, and whoever knocked out their opponent would win points for their team. Everyone felt quite excited about the fights, and some battles were actually set up by the king of Fiore. Other match-ups could be decided randomly, and no one would ever get to know if they'd fight until their guild was announced. This was really the part where employees for the tournament sold food to the spectators, since people enjoyed seeing battles while they could eat.

* * *

The first battle of the day put Shinji Tobari of Haina Ganseki up against Beth Vanderwood from Mermaid Heel, and Shinji started off the match by running towards the young girl. He infused Earth Magic into his left hand while slamming it against her chest, sending her crashing into a wall, and Shinji punched the sand with his right hand to give it more density while also sending a seismic wave towards Beth. That caused an orange blast of Earth Magic to occur, and Beth was badly bruised while she lost consciousness. Shinji gained ten more points for his team, and Mermaid Heel was still at one point.

* * *

The next match pitted Gajeel Redfox against Hibiki Lates, and the iron dragon slayer merely beat his opponent with a powerful Iron Dragon's Roar. Gajeel was quite a fast guy, as he had struck Hibiki in the first moment that the match began, and he didn't exactly want his time to be wasted. Levy happily cheered for him from the stands, and that simply caused Gajeel to smirk as he headed back to his team's booth. Team Fairy Tail B had 14 points, but Team Blue Pegasus still only had three points.

* * *

Rufus got his time to shine in the third match, quite glad to be pitted against Rocker, and he used his Memory-Make Magic to copy the Heavenly Meteor Shower spell that was recently used by Lucy. He combined that with the Water Magic he saw Clair use last month when he took the simple job of watching her kill an S-Class criminal, and this move was now Memory-Make: Water Shower of the Heavens. Rufus made several blue beams of water rain down from the sky to strike Rocker, creating blue blasts of energy that gave off lots of power, and Rocker could be heard screaming in intense pain. The dust settled to reveal that Rocker was knocked out, and Team Sabertooth earned ten points while Team Quatro Cerberus still had none.

* * *

"All right, everyone! It's time for the final match of the day! It's Team Fairy Tail A versus Team Lamia Scale, and it seems like quite an interesting match-up! The battle is Natsu Dragneel versus Takuya Kūchū!" Chapati announced with an excited facial expression while Yajima and Jenny also looked interested in this match.

Gray told Natsu while he looked concerned, not forgetting when he heard the news about Lucy fighting Clair, "Good luck, man, but be careful. If this guy is anything like that princess, he's no pushover."

The fire dragon slayer replied with a confident grin on his face, ready to beat up Takuya, "Relax, you ice stripper. I'll be back in about five minutes to tell you that it was a piece of cake."

Natsu jumped down from his team's booth while walking to the center of the battlefield, clenching his fists tightly, and he saw Takuya be on the ledge of Lamia Scale's booth. The green-haired wielder of Wind Magic skateboarded down the wall with Hizuki, confidently chuckling about the match-up, but the sight of Hizuki on the battlefield made Natsu have an irked facial expression. He asked Takuya about what Hizuki was doing here with him, claiming that she'd just get in the way, but Takuya informed him that he couldn't go into battle without her.

Lisanna and Chelia both thought that was romantic, but he was actually referring to how Ooba Babasaama actually put "Takuya and Hizuki" on their entry form by mistake when she filled out their paperwork. They were technically allowed to fight together like they were one participant, and Mato backed that decision up by bringing up how some people in the ancient challenge were said to have fought as teams. Since Takuya and Hizuki were the first pair to do that this year, they gained that privilege. Upon hearing this information, Natsu gave Takuya a frustrated look while saying he could fight well against two people.

The battle started off with Takuya using the spell called Fun Wind, jumping up quite high into the air with his skateboard, but Hizuki got off the board before it was activated. She watched Natsu make flames engulf his fists as he ran towards her, and Hizuki used her Plant Magic to spit out a dark green seed. She dodged Natsu's punches while spitting out another seed that would land behind him, and Hizuki did this four more times before she got struck in the face by Natsu's flaming fists. As Hizuki was sent flying against a wall, she simply smirked in a scheming manner while looking up at Takuya.

Takuya made two mint green orbs of Wind Magic be in his hands, before slamming them together to create a mint green tornado, and he simply chuckled while aiming the index finger of his left hand downward. The tornado went down to the ground, its powerful winds pulling in Hizuki's seeds, and the tornado spun around fast in a counterclockwise direction several times to gain more speed. Lucy and Sting frowned while looking at that tornado, remembering how Takuya started off their battle with that, but could Natsu beat these clever foes?

"All right, Hizuki! Let's show this guy how we fight! The cafe should be open, since this guy will get served a beating!" Takuya shouted down to her while he could see the seeds swirling around in his tornado.

Hizuki replied in a serious manner while getting up, directing her hands at the tornado, "Yeah, let's show Fairy Tail how we do things in our challenge."

Natsu asked her in a curious tone, seeing her hands be engulfed in a dark green aura, "What are you gonna do?!"

She answered him by making her seeds come flying out of the tornado, all six of them landing around him in a hexagonal formation, and Hizuki's seeds soon turned into green thorny vines that were shaped like tornadoes. That was certainly unexpected, but Natsu didn't care. He merely struck one with his Fire Dragon's Roar, effectively setting it ablaze, and the fire spread from one set of vines to the next. Despite the fact that the vines were on fire, Hizuki still snapped the fingers on her right hand to set off the detonation of her plants. They created six large blasts of Plant Magic that were dark green, before becoming mint green, and Natsu screamed in pain from this powerful attack.

Erza and Gray could see that Natsu walked into a trap from the moment that he hit Hizuki, and Takuya was just as intelligent. He let those seeds combine with his own magic to increase the attack's overall power, along with making his tornado gain so much speed to where the power of his own magic was increasing, and even Makarov felt that was quite a smart strategy. Natsu engulfed himself in flames to burn away the thorns that came from the blasts as a side effect, ignoring the ones that fell to the ground from hitting other thorns, and he was ready to knock Takuya out of the sky.

Natsu used his Fire Dragon's Sword Horn to propel upward towards Takuya, soaring towards him quite fast, and the pink-haired male managed to strike his foe with a flaming punch to the face when he reached him. Takuya may have fallen off his board, shocking many spectators who were worried, but he agressively slashed up at the sky several times while making his tornado quickly go up into the air. He quickly got back on his skateboard, not worried about falling, and Takuya was curious about why Hizuki took some dark green leaves out of the left pocket of her black leather shorts. Was she really going to try a new move in the midst of a battle?

Hizuki had gotten the leaves from trees in Crocus, and she placed all ten of them on the ground while frowning. She soon infused her Plant Magic into the leaves, watching them turn into large trees that had more leaves on their branches, and Hizuki's Plant Magic caused a copious amount of leaves to fall from the trees. She put her left hand below the falling leaves, letting her magic arrange them in the formation of rose petals to look like she wore a corsage, and these leaves were covered in sticky green goop that felt somewhat like glue. Hizuki proceeded to also touch the leaves with her right hand, letting lots of the goop drip on to her palm, and she was thinking a few moves ahead.

The mage from Team Fairy Tail A shouted down to them while he slowly fell towards the ground, before an attack hit him from above, "Whatever you two are planning, it won't-"

Takuya asked Natsu in a rude manner while snickering at his well-timed attack, resisting the urge to laugh hysterically, "Just because you're way up there, did you seriously think I'd let you enjoy the breeze?"

Hizuki commented kindly while smiling at that attack, giving Takuya some more respect, "Wow, your precision with that move has definitely gotten better."

That move was simply known as Zephyr's Wings, and mint green projectiles shaped like a hawk's wings came down from the sky to strike Natsu! He was struck by five wings in succession, watching them create mint green explosions that were quite large, and Natsu crashed into the ground while the last two wings fiercely struck him as well! Everyone took notice of the large blast of Wind Magic, and those wings came from Takuya slashing up air to create blades of wind that would slam against his tornado. The force of the slam led to the tornado splitting into wing-shaped projectiles, and that was why Takuya harshly slashed the air before. He was certainly intelligent, right?

Takuya and Hizuki watched the fire dragon slayer get up while he was somewhat bruised from those attacks that gained power and speed on their descent towards the Domus Flau, but they were surprised to see Natsu quickly run towards them. He ran at high speeds, before producing large streams of fire from his arms, and Hizuki dodged to her right while Natsu sent Takuya flying to the other side of the battlefield with his Fire Dragon's Wing Attack. Takuya was badly burnt by that attack while his sweater vest was somewhat torn, his skin looking charred, but he merely smirked.

He watched Natsu run towards him, only to have Hizuki get in between them, and she narrowed her orange eyes at Natsu while slamming the back of her left hand against his abs. The corsage was on the back of her left hand, and the dark green leaves were engulfed in an aura of the same color while making contact with Natsu. Hizuki was also surrounded by the aura, and she confidently smiled as Natsu began feeling pain. The aura surrounded his body as well, and this spell was called Leaf's Grassy Mega Drain. She was basically transferring his magical power to her body through the power of the corsage, healing her wounds, and Hizuki stopped after fifteen seconds.

Erza and Lisanna watched Hizuki slam the back of her left hand against Natsu, causing him to be sent sliding backwards, and Erza was stunned that wizards like them were just fourth in the ancient challenge. She took notice of Lucy watching the battle with a focused facial expression, shocked that she had dealt with the same people who were on quite a high level, and Erza turned her attention back to Hizuki. The girl who had her jungle green hair in a ponytail looked up at the sun, and Natsu was puzzled to see her giggle confidently at the sight of sunlight shining down on the tree leaves.

"Takuya, let's not drag this fight out. After all, there is a time limit. Maybe we should try that new combo." Hizuki told Takuya in a calm tone, hoping he'd be psyched up for this.

He replied with a shocked facial expression, before standing up and looking totally happy, "Hizuki, you want to try that? It's one of our combos involving cool moves, but I'm glad you're permitting me to start off something so epic!"

Natsu told them in an impatient manner while he was also readying a move, "I'm permitting you to come over here and fight me, before I burn you to a crisp and win!"

Takuya started off this epic move by spinning around and inhaling wind, before exhaling all of it to create five mint green tornadoes, but he inhaled most of the energy from one of them to replenish his magical power. Takuya could now heal himself with this little move, and his skin was no longer charred while he felt better. The smaller tornado started to spin in the counterclockwise direction to regain its original size and speed, but that wasn't as epic as Takuya getting on his skateboard to zoom off at high speeds! Natsu was surprised to see him be much faster than before, hearing him ride his board along the walls, but Hizuki shifted her foe's focus.

She used her left foot to stomp on his right foot, before running towards the trees, and Natsu ran after her while looking angry about that cheap shot. He began chasing her around the trees in a circle, much to the embarrassment of his team, and Hizuki placed her left hand on the ground for a split second while smiling. Natsu chased her around the backs of the trees for the fourth time, and Hizuki's fifth time going to the front of the trees would be different. She had sent her Plant Magic down into the roots of the trees, causing one of them to emerge from underground, and it wrapped itself around Hizuki's leg to hastily fling her into the air.

The winds from the tornadoes were quite heavy, nearly blowing Natsu away, and he saw more of the leaves fly through the air. They landed on the laps of several girls, forming corsages because of how Leaf's Grassy Mega Drain wasn't stopped yet, and Takuya actually manipulated the winds into doing that. Several of the girls blushed while feeling him skateboard past them for the tenth time now, guessing that he was at maximum speed, and Takuya even made a corsage land near Kagura Mikazuchi. She gave it an unimpressed look, sharing Hizuki's dislike for Takuya's tendencies to show off, but the wielder of Wind Magic was done playing around.

His heavy and fast winds sent Hizuki flying upward, making her be at quite a high altitude, and Takuya skateboarded up off of the wall close to Sabertooth's booth for the purpose of getting high in the air. Takuya's tornadoes went up into the air with him, looking much larger while they spun much faster, and Natsu merely glared up at his foes while preparing to unleash a pretty powerful attack that would end this match. He didn't even care that Takuya manged to do a 1080 with his Wind Magic, which was three full 360-degree revolutions, but that was a very impressive skateboard trick that amazed the spectators.

"Let's see how you like this! Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" Natsu shouted up at them before he jumped upward, creating a large fireball that was promptly thrown at his opponents.

Hizuki exclaimed as she was still in midair while raising her right hand, allowing sunlight to shine on her palm, "Takuya, I'm ready to use it!"

Takuya responded to Hizuki as he looked down at Natsu's attack, adjusting his glasses as he smirked, "Well, just charge it up for some more seconds while I handle this!"

He made one of his large tornadoes go down to collide with Natsu's fireball, watching an explosion briefly occur as fire fell down to the sandy arena, and Takuya smiled from seeing his attack only become half of its previous size. If that was the best Natsu could do, then this match was done. Takuya watched the tornado regain more wind and speed, but then he glanced up at Hizuki to see a jungle green ball of Plant Magic forming in her hand. Takuya thought they'd use the final combo that they had used in the battle against Lucy and Sting, but Hizuki surprised everyone by eating her attack!

She spat it down in the form of multiple jungle green seeds towards all five of the tornadoes, watching them become jungle green while the seeds went in them, and that move was called Blooming Bullets. Instead of the attack being dark green, it actually gained a lighter shade because of how the spell's chlorophyll absorbed an intense amount of sunlight. Some people wondered how she could form that attack without plants being up in the air, but some spectators soon remembered the goop on her right hand. Melting leaves still counted as plants, and Hizuki was glad that the tree-growing spell came with that dark green goop.

Takuya commanded the tornadoes to go down towards Natsu, which they hastily did, and the fire dragon slayer could not run away from the heavy winds that were on all five corners of him. The projectiles soon slammed themselves against him quite harshly, creating a jungle green blast of Plant Magic in the center that was quite massive while the four blasts of Wind Magic on its corners were also incredibly large, and Natsu could be heard screaming in excruciating pain. These winds were quite dense, making harsh cuts on his body while Hizuki's bullets made explosions occur within the blast, and Natsu felt his entire body ache.

The blasts made a tremendously large gale blow throughout the Domus Flau, nearly making people's food be blown from their hands, and some people nearly flew out of their seats. Even the judges could feel the intensely powerful winds while they watched the clouds of mint green smoke and jungle green smoke get cleared up by Takuya, who sent down a simple gust of Wind Magic to make the battlefield be clear, and several of the wizards had their arms over their eyes to avoid the dust. For people who were just competing in the Grand Magic Games, Takuya and Hizuki treated this battle as if Natsu had encountered them in the Kazehana Plains.

"That wind totally messed up my hair!" Jenny exclaimed into the microphone while looking at Chapati, who was trying to keep his black wig on.

Chapati announced to the audience while seeing Hizuki fall into Takuya's arms, as the male with dark green hair used the wind to calmly float down to the battlefield where Natsu was knocked out, "That was quite an interesting match, and they treated it like an analytical battle of wits! The winner is Takuya Kūchū! His ally, Hizuki Hanaya, deserves an applause as well! Lamia Scale earns 10 points, but it is an upset to see Fairy Tail lose."

Takuya told the unconscious Natsu in a satisfied manner, before his purple eyes shifted to the dragon slayer's team, "I told you we wouldn't mess around, bro. The five tornadoes of Fūjin's Wind Katana can enhance my power and heal me, but they also hit pretty hard. They're different from my final move I used against the blonde babe, and Hizuki's move gave them more of a power boost. I had a harder time finishing all those pancakes for breakfast, and-

As Hizuki became irked by Takuya's boasting and walked while pushing him towards the hallway where they could join up with the other members of Lamia Scale, her orange eyes caught a glimpse of Natsu's teammates jumping down to the battlefield for the purpose of checking on him. Lisanna really looked concerned about all the large slash marks and bruises on Natsu's body while hoping Wendy could fully heal the bleeding cuts, and Erza merely looked back at his opponents with a facial expression that was mixed between anger about losing and the shock of seeing how they were at that level.

Takuya merely looked back at them to snicker while holding up two fingers to make the peace sign, and Gray could guess that guy held back in the fight. He wanted to say that it wasn't fair for Natsu to battle two opponents at once, but he did recall how he beat Sting and Rogue last year. Gray's eyes soon glanced up to see Lucy walk into the hallway with her teammates, pretty glad that she was great in today's event, but he soon saw Erza clench her fists tightly as her brown eyes were filled with frustration. She ran up into the stands while seeming frustrated, ready to leave the Domus Flau with the civilians, and the intellect of Natsu's opponents wasn't the only thing on her mind.

* * *

 **Three hours later, on a street in Crocus...**

Sting watched Lucy exit a clothing store with a new pink top hat on her head, liking how pink stars were standing on all four sides of it, and the light dragon slayer definitely liked what she purchased. Sting felt the need to give Lucy a nice kiss on the lips as well, due to her amazing performance in the event, and he blushed happily while feeling her kiss back. The duo began walking to their inn while feeling good about today, glad that Team Sabertooth now had twenty points, so they could gladly treat their friends to a nice feast.

Lucy smiled kindly as she asked Sting if he felt bummed about not participating, as that first event was something he probably could've handled, and Sting let out a sigh as he felt somewhat disappointed. It hadn't been fun for Sting to just be up in the booth and watch while knowing he wouldn't get to participate, but he also felt like the victories of his guild members would be enough to make him smile. In fact, he and Lector cheered the loudest when Lucy got that last ring on the pole. Sting was so glad that Lucy could be so strong while maintaining her cuteness, and he held her right hand with his left hand.

His blue eyes were filled with calmness as he looked at her, feeling like Lucy would make her match be awesome if it came up, and Sting soon chuckled while bringing up how she could've beaten Takuya with ease in that match. Lucy merely giggled as she told him that Takuya and Hizuki were quite smart with their spells, but she could guess that they tried to not show all their moves in that fight against Natsu. The duo probably saw the fight like another battle for them in the ancient challenge, so Lucy could understand if they were displaying their level of difficulty for the other people who had authority over the different Rainbow Crystals.

Lucy and Sting both felt some sympathy for Natsu, as they could relate to how he must've been upset over losing a fight, and both of the wizards could assume that he had no idea what he was getting into. After all, the people who were in charge of giving out crystals did use their spells in unorthodox ways or use them as clever leads into their next attacks. Lucy was used to dealing with that unpredictable style of fighting, but her old friends in Team Natsu weren't really accustomed to the battling styles of people like Takuya and Hizuki.

"Hey, Lucy. We should relax at the cafe up ahead. After all, it'll be nice to get some food before we meet up with Rogue and Kira." Sting told her in a calm tone as he felt hungry for cake.

Lucy replied happily as she looked at Sting, before seeing two wizards walk out of there with heart-shaped cakes, "Yeah, we can eat there. It seems like a nice place for celebrating a victory involving my pink spells."

The two mages walked towards the cafe while some civilians happily looked at them, a little girl even joyfully telling her mom about the famous spell book that Lucy was holding, and Sabertooth was certainly not being looked down upon. There were some spectators who would claim that their great first day was merely the calmness before a storm of harsh defeats, referencing how the second day of the tournament was where Sabertooth got zero points, but Lucy planned on proving them wrong. In fact, she wondered who would be paired against her in a match.

The idea of fighting Erza made Lucy feel pumped up, and she would certainly not let that match end in a draw. After all, she wouldn't just be fighting for herself. Minerva lost against Erza last year, and defeating the woman who could wield several different weapons would be some nice payback for both of them. She remembered how Minerva stood up for her today, even making Erza look angered, but there was also the possibility of the woman from Fairy Tail battling against Kira. After all, the snarky merchant did say Erza was weak while not caring if the brown-eyed woman would've wanted to choke her.

Lucy looked determined as she planned on giving Kira advice for the possibility of her fighting someone in a match during the Grand Magic Games, really wanting her to be alright, and Sting seemed just as determined to advise Rogue on how Sabertooth would get the golden trophy. Both of those mages hadn't shown off their skills lately, leaving some of their moves unknown to their friends, and it would be interesting to see how they'd fare in the events or battles. Would they win, or would the odds sadly be against them?

As Lucy and Sting reached the cafe and felt ready to go in, they were soon met with a familiar female coming out of there. Her eyes were green while this girl's wavy blonde hair was shoulder-length, and she wore a yellow open jacket with a blue T-shirt to match. Her skirt was white like Sting's magic, and this female also had on white high-heeled shoes. She gave Lucy a happy smile from surprisingly running into her again, glad that their paths crossed again, and Lucy gave this girl a happy hug as she also smiled from recognizing her.

"You're Hikari Yūgure from Voltage Town! It's great to see you, and I hope you've been well!" Lucy joyfully told her friend as they hugged, her eyes filled with delight.

Hikari responded with a calm smile on her face as she broke the hug, before her eyes shifted to Sting, "It's good to see you two again as well. Lucy, I saw you on the Lacrima Vision screen. You did pretty good in that event, and I'm glad you collected all the Rainbow Crystals."

Lucy asked her with a curious facial expression, remembering everything that went down, "How is everyone in Voltage doing? Did Akina come here with you?"

Hikari replied in a disappointed manner at the second question as her smile went away, "Everyone is learning to move on from the tragedies, and we had a large funeral service on the next rainy day for the mages who died. I used a lightning spell to somewhat heal my mother's mind, and she's been seeing a psychiatrist for a while. She wanted to come to Crocus and see the tournament, but the sight of you on the Lacrima Vision screen in town made her feel like staying behind. She told me to tell you how she wishes you luck, and she is sorry for everything that happened."

Lucy nodded while saying she could forgive Akina for her past actions, as she could own up to them with a sense of maturity, and she also asked Hikari if Akina was being nicer to her. Hikari was glad to tell her that they had a more stable relationship, as Akina was helping her become much stronger with Lightning Magic, and she also informed Lucy about how Akina wondered if it would be possible for a powerful priestess such as herself to be a Wizard Saint. Lucy only smiled softly while telling her that criminals wouldn't earn that title from the Magic Council, and the council members hadn't done anything about Akina because they still deemed her to be very dangerous.

As Lucy and Sting went into the cafe and parted ways with Hikari, Erza had watched them from across the street. She could hear every word of their conversation, along with seeing Lucy's pink book, and Erza sat down at a white patio table. She clenched her left fist and narrowed her eyes, ignoring the strawberry cake in front of her, and Erza thought about today's event. Lucy's spells felt quite strong, that Heavenly Body Magic being slightly weaker than Jellal's, and Erza was amazed that Lucy had been that powerful. She certainly came quite far, and Erza felt that defeating her would not be as easy as she thought.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 34? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Sorry if the chapter was too long, and I also apologize for the filler battles being short. Also, I'll say this right now. Natsu's loss was necessary for Fairy Tail to see what Lucy went through to get the Rainbow Crystals. Developing Takuya & Hizuki was equally necessary as well, and other characters will also develop. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me. **


	35. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Grand Magic Games, Day 2: The Flame's Shadow**

* * *

The following day, Lucy was in the bakery of Crocus with her teammates. Sting was there as well, and the group stood in line for the purpose of ordering some delicious pies that would make their day start off sweetly. This was now the second day of the Grand Magic Games, which was a very important day for all of the guilds to make up for any losses or continue their winning streaks, and all the members of Team Sabertooth seemed ready to taste victory. Lucy really wanted to battle today, and she smiled happily at the thought of winning a fight for the team.

Lucy had hoped that she would be chosen to fight today, and she really wanted to show off her best skills. Training with the spell book would surely pay off, as her spells became much stronger from using them several times, and all of that practice in the mountains would not go to waste. Lucy even wondered if it would be a good idea to start combining her strategies to make new moves, but that would be somewhat tricky. She looked down at her purple blouse that matched her black pants, and Lucy hoped to get a victory.

Minerva had watched Lucy train several times, hoping she wouldn't do something to injure herself, and the elegant woman with black hair smiled while standing next to Lucy. Team Sabertooth gladly received 20 points yesterday, but how would they fare today? There was the dilemma of how someone would not get a second chance to fight in a battle, at least not until they got lucky in the tag-team round, and Minerva hoped that Sabertooth would be pretty lucky. She also felt that her hopes would be dashed, however, and Minerva felt as though the team had a merchant who would be more of a liability than an asset.

Minerva turned around for a moment to see Kira and Rogue holding hands, looking quite calm with the shared thought of how today would go smoothly, and a thumbs-up gesture from the red-haired merchant made Minerva let out a displeased sigh. She could understand that it was Kira's first time in the Grand Magic Games, which justified how she seemed so confident, but Minerva wanted Kira to tone down her psyched mood. After all, hearing her claim that Sabertooth would obtain victory during dinner at a restaurant last night had certainly been embarrassing.

"Kira, that excited attitude of yours is probably going to make us lose ten points. If your overconfidence results in an embarrassing loss, then you may as well go home." Minerva sternly told her while narrowing her green eyes, trying to make Kira's fierceness be more visible than her confidence.

The girl who wielded Fire Magic replied in an offended manner, folding her arms as she glared at Minerva, "Stop thinking that I'll be pathetic in a fight. Really, I can take battles seriously. Minerva, you haven't even seen my most powerful flames."

Sting asked Minerva with a curious facial expression while standing behind Rogue and Kira, "Minerva, why are you so tough on Kira? Why do you perceive her to be weak?"

Minerva answered his question by saying that she hadn't seen flames of ferocity from the hazel-eyed girl, and she looked directly at Sting while saying that it would be better for Kira to show her that she truly had some fierce power. Minerva also told Kira that if she trained as often as she made snarky remarks about people, then this would not even be an issue to discuss. She was simply getting Kira riled up for a fight, hoping to make her fiery determination show itself in a battle, and Minerva had rarely failed with her ways of manipulation.

Kira clenched her fists as she looked at Minerva, but her eyes shifted to Lucy as she claimed that her flames would even make Matsurika run away in fear. She wasn't planning to back down from a fight, especially not when Rogue would be watching her, and Kira would make Minerva respect her. In fact, she could not wait for her chance to battle against someone. Whoever her opponent would be, Kira would certainly fight them with her fiery attacks. She felt quite strong about her chances to win, but Rogue was also weighing on her mind. Even though he was standing right next to her, the thought of him cheering her on caused Kira to blush a light shade of pink.

Minerva wondered why Kira began to blush, hoping she did not come down with a fever, but the sight of her hazel eyes shifting to a calm shadow dragon slayer made the stern woman see that Kira wouldn't only fight hard to get the points. Rogue also blushed slightly from the fact that he was holding Kira's right hand with his left hand, liking how it was warmer than usual, and Minerva could guess that Kira was gong to fight hard for the purpose of impressing Rogue. After all, she wouldn't want to look bad in front of someone who she admired.

Kira may not have openly stated it, but she would also fight quite hard to make Lucy see her strength. The thought of battling against her was enough to make Kira feel like she needed to unleash her fiercest amount of power today, and Kira merely saw today as being one step closer to the day where she would eventually fight her closest friend. Lucy was at a high level of power, possibly being on the same level as Kira, and the quirky girl would be glad to let her friend see her blazing hot skills. Kira certainly had motives for the Grand Magic Games and for the future, but she soon looked surprised while almost forgetting the motive of why the team stood in line.

"No one's in front of us anymore! Let's order our pies, and then we'll go to the arena!" Kira promptly stated, causing Lucy to quickly go up to the counter to order her pie.

Lector exclaimed while standing on Sting's left shoulder, smirking confidently as he hoped Kira would fight, "Do your best, Kira-san! Turn the enemy into a pile of ashes!"

Kira calmly giggled and replied, aware that killing her opponent would be against the rules, "I'll hope that the situation doesn't have to reach that point, but thanks for the support!"

Rufus and Orga were at the back of the line while they both felt that Sabertooth's team was certainly an interesting one this year, but Rufus merely smiled more confidently at the possibility of seeing Kira's spells. Not only would it be quite good to see her fight, but her moves would be burned into his memory. Yesterday, he merely combined Lucy's spell with Clair's magic to win his match. If he could combine Kira's strongest spell with one type of Lucy's magic or even Orga's black lightning, then the result would definitely be an explosive one.

Team Sabertooth certainly started off their morning with some tension, and Rufus actually wondered how Kira would do in a fight. Hopefully, she wouldn't get a bad match-up like how Yukino got the bad fate of being pitted against Kagura last year. Rufus also hoped that Kira wouldn't be too careless with Fire Magic, as it would be bad for her flames to burn some audience members, and her level of unpredictability in fights rivaled Lucy's. If either of those girls were chosen to fight today, they'd probably be just as interesting as the mages who defeated Natsu.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at Bar Sun...**

Natsu sat down at a table with his friends while bandages were on his arms and legs, glad the wounds from yesterday were healed by Wendy, but the fire dragon slayer felt upset at how he lost to Takuya. The members of Team Fairy Tail A had arrived at the bar for a little chat about that, not wanting to discuss it last night because of how Natsu was in such a disappointed mood, and even Lisanna had been surprised to hear Natsu not want anyone to talk to him. He didn't take the loss pretty well, especially due to the fact that Takuya never lost control of the match.

Erza sat across from Natsu as she thought about the levels of power that Takuya and Hizuki possessed, their spells being so unorthodox, and the woman with scarlet red hair was trying to think of a way to beat those mages. They could even participate in an event together, and Erza hoped that she could take them down. She did have to give them credit for blocking one of Natsu's strongest attacks, however, and even some of the citizens were talking about Lamia Scale's newest wizards on this nice morning. Takuya and Hizuki were certainly strong, but could they be beaten?

As Erza and Natsu focused on yesterday's event, Gray was currently thinking about what would happen today. Due to Wendy getting six points in the event yesterday, Gray felt like he could keep that momentum going by competing in today's event. Whatever it was going to be, he'd certainly do his best to achieve first place for the struggling team. They were in fifth place, after all, and Gray didn't like to not be in the top four. The good news was that Team Fairy Tail B was ahead of them by just eight points, so getting far ahead of them in the event would be crucial for the gap of points between them to be narrowed.

Even though Erza really wouldn't like it, Gray would quietly root for Lucy's team to win when Sabertooth wasn't fighting against anyone from Fairy Tail or Lamia Scale. He wanted to see Lucy do her best, really looking forward to the day where she would fight, and the male with dark blue eyes was impressed with her skills in yesterday's event. The level of power from those blasts of heavenly energy was amazing to Gray, mainly because he didn't expect Lucy to unleash a technique like that, and seeing something so cool made him look forward to today.

"Well, the Grand Magic Games start in an hour. We should probably get there early, just to avoid pushing past all the spectators." Gray told his teammates in a calm tone while he sat in between Lisanna and Wendy.

Natsu responded in a fierce manner, ready to battle, "I'll fight in today's match again, and I'll win!"

Wendy unfortunately told the fire dragon slayer with a kind facial expression, "Natsu-san, we won't be matched against Lamia Scale again."

That made Natsu quite disappointed, and he merely put his head down on the table. Gray informed his teammates that he would compete today, regardless of the event, and he really wanted to not be in fifth place. It was bad enough for the team's morale that they only got third place in the Ring Toss event, only beating Cana by precious seconds, but losing a match against very intelligent foes was quite troubling. Gray would probably ask Lucy at some point about how her fight went against them, since he was smart enough to not mess with people who mistook a tournament match for a battle in the ancient challenge.

As Gray got up from his chair with a determined look on his face, his eyes being filled with the desire to not lose, he looked at Erza to see her being deep in thought. Gray still couldn't believe that Erza had the audacity to say that she'd beat Lucy down easily, and the sword-wielding woman was quite bold to be rude to Lucy. He hoped that their possible fight in the Grand Magic Games wouldn't be too vicious, since he wouldn't want to see either of his friends be carried out on a stretcher, and Gray would certainly stop the battle if either side got out of hand.

Erza soon got up from her chair while saying it was fine for Gray to participate in today's event, but the possible situation of someone from their team facing Lucy involved one condition. If it was a one-on-one match, Erza wanted to switch places with whoever got the opportunity to fight Lucy. The two girls had a score to settle, and Erza felt like she would need to use her strongest armors in that fight. She wished for the conflict to end with her giving Lucy an apology, and Erza would do that after giving Lucy a ferocious beating.

Natsu was fine with that condition, as he did not want to fight Lucy, but Lisanna felt like Erza was thinking too far ahead. There was no way to know who would be paired up for each battle, and Erza could end up fighting Minerva. That would make her little suggestion go to waste, and things would be bad if Erza used her Nakagami Armor again. It took up a huge amount of magical power, and Erza could barely walk afterwards. Team Fairy Tail A didn't have any reserve members this time, and Lisanna did not want their chances of winning to be blown in any way.

"Erza, I can't allow you to do that. Since you have a feud with Lucy, I think you'd take things too far and end up injuring her. Also, learn to show respect. The things you said to her yesterday were pretty disrespectful. Honestly, you're just asking for bad karma." Lisanna explained to her while narrowing her blue eyes, before looking at the other members to see if they'd agree with her.

Natsu added nicely, agreeing with his girlfriend, "Lisanna is right, Erza. If you made Lucy furious at us, that's gonna come back later to bite us in the butt. I thought that skateboarding jerk could be beaten easily, but his friend's plants helped his wind bite me in the butt."

Erza replied in a surrendering manner as Lisanna looked at her, remembering that she'd do whatever the younger girl wanted her to do, "All right, Lisanna. I was stupid to make that condition, and now it no longer exists. Sorry for bringing that up."

Gray was quick to run out of the bar while not wanting to be late, as this recent dilemma did take up some time, and Wendy hastily ran after him. They were followed by Natsu and Lisanna, who also wanted to reach the Domus Flau without ending up in a fountain again, and Erza was the last wizard to run out of Bar Sun. Gray was intent on his team making a decent comeback, even if they would get five points in a draw during the battle portion of today, and he refused to let drama impede the team's progress. After all, it would suck if conflicts made the team be a disaster.

Wendy ran alongside Gray while hoping that today's event wouldn't be similar to Hidden from last year, and she also wished for him to get lucky. He was pretty intent on participating, the grin on his face showing lots of confidence, and Gray was going to make Team Fairy Tail A at least catch up with the other team from their guild. That was his goal for today, and winning the tournament would come after that. Unlike Erza, Gray was taking the road that involved thinking step by step. That was similar to how Takuya and Hizuki plotted out their moves for every situation, so it was probably the best path to take.

* * *

 **One hour later, in the Domus Flau...**

Many spectators came to see the second day of the Grand Magic Games while several of them were still amazed at what happened yesterday, and the people who had jobs at concession stands were making high profits from the fans who wanted to eat as they watched the tournament. Business was certainly booming while flowers were blooming in the city of Crocus, and the money is what caused some merchants to try setting up little shops in the city today. They would either be as successful as Kira, or their items wouldn't interest any customers.

The Grand Magic Games also had people watching for the second day in a row, such as Minami. She actually managed to find three other wizards in Hoshizora Town to help her form a rock band, and the group was currently in Minami's hometown of Hyakkoku to watch the tournament on one of the large Lacrima Vision screens that was in midair. Minami herself merely folded her arms and smiled from seeing Lucy use her Heavenly Body Magic in the brief recap, but she certainly surprised the people around her by excitedly jamming out on an air guitar to celebrate Sabertooth having twenty points.

Chisato and Yukata were also watching the Grand Magic Games, ironically seated among civilians in the Domus Flau, and the two art thieves were very lucky that the Lacrima Vision screens in the arena would not focus on the spectators at any point. After all, they did not want anyone to recognize them and end up being hauled off to the Rune Knights. Chisato smirked in a proud manner at how Lucy used the Heavenly Body Magic, even though she personally felt like it could've been much flashier, but she was even more impressed with the skills of Rufus. Yukata merely had two hot dogs in her hands, and she hoped that today would be interesting.

All of the teams were now in their booths while they were waiting for Chapati to announce today's event, and some people didn't really care about what it was going to be. They would participate, even if it was going to end up being detrimental for their team's ranking, but other people would actually think about who needed to be in the event for their team. No one really knew what the events would be, and the unexpected twists that came with some of the events made them be even more crazy. Chapati smiled confidently as he was ready to announce the event, and everyone would be sure to listen.

"Today's event is known as Darkness Seeker, and it sounds fun! In this event, the participants will be shrouded in darkness while having to avoid the light. Whoever manages to not get caught in the light will win first place!" Chapati explained to the audience and the participants, looking psyched up for this.

Yajima replied to Chapati in a calm manner as he folded his arms, "It sounds quite simple."

Jason from Sorcerer Magazine told the other two judges as he seemed pretty excited to be today's guest judge, "Staying in darkness, and avoiding light! Cool!"

Gray immediately chose to do this for Team Fairy Tail A, not planning on losing, and Gajeel decided to play for Team Fairy Tail B. The fact that Gajeel was in the event made Rogue also feel like he'd partake in this game to earn Sabertooth some points, but it was pretty shocking to see Kagura participate for Mermaid Heel. Perhaps she wanted her team to definitely have more than one point, and she wasn't even worried that Ichiya would play for Blue Pegasus. Yuka would try to get points for Lamia Scale, Nobarly planned on winning for Quatro Cerberus, and the last participant was Hyde Chiri from Haina Ganseki.

The eight competitors wasted no time with jumping down from their booths, ready to see what this event would be like, and they all went to the center of the Domus Flau. Mato ordered the field to open, causing a town to magically appear in the arena, and Gray was quite surprised to see this again. The fact that this event was called Darkness Seeker made him feel like this game would be similar to Hidden, but Gray and the other competitors were quick to see a black dome of magic surround them. It made the town appear to be dimly lit while everyone was warped to different parts of the town, and the loud sound of thunder startled some of the competitors for a moment.

Rogue and the others began to walk around the town, wondering if there was a wizard with a flashlight trying to seek them out, but everyone in the Domus Flau was stunned to see white beams of light come down from the sky to pass through the top of the black dome. They crashed down on the town, creating white blasts of light that were quite large, but these blasts were merely flashy. Their power level was nothing to worry over, as the blasts only left behind scorch marks on the ground that were small, and everyone could now see that the objective was to not be caught in the blasts.

A gong was struck for the game to officially begin, and the competitors began to run. There was no way to predict where the light would come from, as the ceiling of this event was dark enough to even conceal the light beams that came from above, and Rogue decided to hide in the shadows of a merchant shop while looking calm. It would be very interesting to just observe the white beams of light, wondering if there was some kind of trick to this event, and Rogue hoped that he would not be the first person to end up getting caught.

 _"If I act carelessly, the enemy will be alerted to my presence."_ Rogue calmly thought to himself, narrowing his red eyes as he saw Hyde walk by the merchant shop.

Hyde said aloud to himself as he smirked arrogantly, before chuckling at the situation, "No one is stupid enough to get caught in the light, but this is a game of taking out your opponents before they take you out. Plus, less people around makes it easier for me to win."

Chapati asked through the microphone, having a curious facial expression, "What is he planning to do?"

Hyde wore a brown jacket that had orange fur on the collar, along with black gloves, and he also wore an orange shirt that went well with his black pants. Hyde's boots were mocha brown in color while his eyes were light brown, and this teenager had cocoa brown hair that was styled like Gray's. Hyde grinned from seeing Nobarly of Quatro Cerberus come running towards him, and the mage from Haina Ganseki was quick to deliver a powerful uppercut to his enemy's chin. He sent Nobarly flying upwards, just in time to watch him get struck directly by a white beam of light, and everyone saw an explosion occur in midair!

Nobarly screamed before being warped back to his team's booth, and Team Quatro Cerberus received zero points. All of the spectators in the arena watched the dim event on the Lacrima Vision screens, and Lucy was surprised to see Hyde smirk as he slammed his left palm against the ground. It caused the ground to crack around him while the shaking ground also caused Rogue to run out of his hiding place, and four dome-shaped stones rose up from the ground to form a square around the spot where Hyde smashed the cobblestone floor.

Hyde applied Earth Magic to his hands and feet while he chose to run after Rogue, the orange aura around his body being quite bright, but the shadow dragon slayer was suddenly kicked far away by Gajeel! The iron dragon slayer and everyone else could hear Hyde's powerful footsteps hitting the ground with loud smashes, and he felt like it would be smart to take out the opponent who was presumably the most troublesome one right now. Gajeel grinned as he ran towards Hyde, ready to hit him with his left fist, and Hyde surprisingly just stood there.

He let Gajeel punch him in the face, before crashing through a building, and Hyde quickly got out of the rubble while dusting himself off. He soon picked up some stones while making an orange aura surround them, and Hyde threw them all at Gajeel! The wizard from Fairy Tail leapt back to dodge his attacks, watching them create orange blasts of energy that were quite large, and getting caught in an enemy's blasts was another way to get eliminated. Gajeel narrowed his eyes while seeing all the orange smoke around, and he ran through it just to see Hyde show him his right hand as he slowly waved goodbye with a happy chuckle also being involved.

"Damn you, kid! You set me up!" Gajeel shouted to him while seeing white light greatly brighten the ground, before looking up to see the white beam of light that would hit him directly.

Hyde responded with a taunting look on his face, as he saw his enemy get struck with the light, "Just because I like close combat, watch the timing of when you approach me!"

Cana stated with a frustrated facial expression while seeing Gajeel get warped back to the team's booth, "Man, he faked out Gajeel pretty well."

Hyde had made those large orange blasts occur to conceal any beams of light from his opponent's view, and Gajeel was distracted enough by Hyde's attacks to take his eyes off of the true danger in this event. The iron dragon slayer was irked by his team only receiving one point, and he was even more irritated to see Hyde run to a different street. The brown-haired teen slammed his palm against the ground again, making those four stones rise up from the ground again, but he soon ran from that street while not wanting everyone to encounter him.

Rogue found himself having to dodge a beam of light, activating his Shadow Drive ability to go into the shadows that were created by the light, and the mage from Sabertooth simply went to a darker area while hearing Ichiya from Blue Pegasus scream from getting caught in a blast of light. Ichiya's team only earned two points, and he was dissatisfied with that. Rogue came out of the ground to see five beams of light rain down from above, making this event seem more difficult, and it certainly would get harder to hide from the light.

Yuka from Lamia Scale was having no trouble defending against the white light, using his Wave Magic to nullify it, but a beam of light that was diagonally headed in his direction soon got broken apart by a certain wizard using his magic to make a ball of gooey clay strike the middle of the beam. The large explosion ripped the light beam apart, making it become several smaller white beams, and some of them struck Yuka's legs! Since he was caught in the light, he could only groan in a frustrated manner at how he was now eliminated. Lamia Scale received three points, and Hizuki sighed sadly as she felt that the event would've been better suited for her or Takuya.

Hyde continued to run around the town while leaving behind those stones, possibly saving them for a huge attack that would blow away his last opponent, and he ran down another street to only cross paths with Kagura. She didn't seem interested in dealing with him, prompting her to try slashing Hyde down with her sheathed sword, and Kagura was surprised to see him slide to the right. He didn't even look worried about her sword, but Kagura used her Gravity Magic to make a white beam of light descend at a faster rate while it was headed for her opponent.

"Instead of me getting fourth, why don't you take that spot?" Hyde asked Kagura in a cocky manner, before laughing at how this event was too easy.

Kagura responded calmly while seeing the bright light surround her, not even telling Hyde that sliding backwards was pointless for him, "You're quite confident, but things won't be looking up for you."

Hyde asked her in a confused manner, as he saw the blast of light engulf her, "What are you talking about?"

As Kagura got fourth place for her team, Hyde was promptly struck by a blast of light! He had been too busy laughing about Kagura's defeat to notice the light beam that came down through the dome at the same moment she used her magic, and Hyde screamed in an irked manner. He only got six points for Haina Ganseki, but Hyde moved his left hand in a slow manner while bending his left arm back. The sand now headed back towards one of the spots where Hyde made the stones, moving at high speeds, but it soon stopped when Hyde got warped back to his team's booth.

The only two competitors left were now Gray and Rogue, respectively fighting for Fairy Tail and Sabertooth, but who would win? Rogue was able to evade every beam of light that came near him, and Gray was also quite lucky. The two males were now on opposite sides of small town, causing everyone to wonder who would emerge victorious, and Rogue continued to stay in the darkness. He was certainly good at this particular game, and Rogue also couldn't embarrass himself with Kira watching. After all, he did want to win for her.

Gray used his Ice-Make Magic to create a light blue icicle that was quite large, and he threw it up at a beam of light that was about to hit him. The beam now reflected off of his dense ice, splitting into seven beams that were thinner, and one of the beams struck one of Hyde's stones that was right by Gray. When the beam hit the stone, it made haste with exploding in an orange blast! The other three stones near it had also exploded, and Gray felt pain as he was caught in the first blast! He screamed in pain while hearing the judges ring the bell, and the event was now over with Rogue as the winner.

Rogue was satisfied with his win, and he watched Hyde's remaining stones crumble down into sand while the town began to disappear. The black dome in the arena soon faded away to reveal that Gray was down on the ground with his clothes somewhat torn, but he was able to stand up and walk away. Team Fairy Tail A earned eight points, now having fourteen in total to be just one point behind Team Fairy Tail B, and they seemed happy. Team Sabertooth earned ten points, and they now had a nice total of thirty points.

* * *

 **15 minutes later...**

Since the day's event was finished, the battles could now commence. The first battle pitted Hyde Chiri from Haina Ganseki against Laxus Dreyar from Team Fairy Tail B, and Hyde started off the match by slamming his fists against the ground to make seven rocks rise up from the sand. He also sent his Earth Magic down into the ground to make the sand be denser, but Laxus struck him with a Lightning Dragon's Roar before he could finish doing that. The lightning attack was powerful enough to knock out Hyde in one hit, and Laxus won the match. He won ten points for his team, and they now had 25 points.

* * *

The second match paired Gray from Team Fairy Tail A up against Nobarly from Team Quatro Cerberus, and the match started off with Gray using his Ice-Make Magic for his technique known as Ice-Make: Ice Bringer. The blue-eyed mage made two large swords of ice be created in his hands, and Gray ran towards Nobarly. He struck him with both swords simultaneously to create a cross-shaped slash that was quite powerful, and Gray's opponent was knocked out easily. Gray earned ten points for his team, which made him very happy, but he was turned off by Juvia excitedly cheering his name from her team's booth.

* * *

The third match of the day featured Ren Akatsuki from Blue Pegasus facing off against Toby Horhorta from Lamia Scale, and Ren was quick to finish the match with his attack known as Aerial Phose. He enveloped Toby in a sphere-like cyclone of harsh winds, dealing massive damage to him, and that attack was more powerful than it was in the previous year. Team Blue Pegasus now had 15 points while Team Lamia Scale had 21 points, and it seemed like some teams were ready to make epic comebacks in the tournament.

* * *

Sting looked at the situation, now seeing that Sabertooth would have to go up against Mermaid Heel, and he hoped that the guild's earlier victory was not fate trying to compensate them for a possible defeat. Sting looked at Lucy while feeling that she could take on any of those girls with just one type of magic, and Lucy felt quite confident about her chances to win. Minerva felt like the odds were actually in their favor, since she or Lucy would fight hard in the situation of facing Kagura, but fate just had to give Sabertooth some cruel news.

"We're now at the final match of the day, folks! Also, the king set up this match! These two guilds fought once before, but the ex-champions were easily defeated! It's Mermaid Heel versus Sabertooth, and this match-up seems exciting! Kagura Mikazuchi versus Kira Blazia!" Chapati announced to the crowd while watching the Lacrima Vision screens focus on the two competitors.

"Seriously?! It's over!" Minerva exclaimed to Rufus as she began comically shaking him, not wanting to watch Kira possibly lose.

Lucy told Kira with a calm smile on her face, as she high-fived the red-haired girl, "Good luck, Kira! Do your best out there."

Kira looked down at the dark green blouse that she wore with her favorite cherry red skirt, along with her favorite brown boots to match, and she proceeded to jump down from Team Sabertooth's booth. Kagura jumped down from Mermaid Heel's booth for the match, and both of the girls walked to the middle of the battlefield. One of Hyde's large rocks widened the distance between them, but no one really minded it. Kira looked psyched up for the match while Kagura kept her cool, and the woman who wielded the sword called Archenemy wasn't even really bruised or tired from the earlier event.

When Mato allowed the match to begin, Kira started it off by jumping up into the air and firing five large fireballs from her mouth. They were all aimed at Kagura, who merely slashed through the projectiles with her sword still sheathed, and Kira was surprised to see that. She watched the fireballs explode while being somewhat startled, and the sight of Kagura jumping up into the air was not something she expected. Kagura struck Kira in the chest with a powerful kick, sending her crashing down on to the ground, and Kira coughed up some blood when she hit the sandy battlefield.

Kira managed to get up, though, and she simply activated a spell known as Cherished Flame. She waited for Kagura to be on the ground before using this spell, and Kira unleashed a large red stream of fire from her mouth. Kagura merely dodged to her left to evade the attack, however, and she quickly ran towards Kira. The girl with purple hair slashed at Kira with her sheathed sword, sending her flying backwards, and Kagura didn't even seem interested at the sight of Kira's flames striking one of the brown rocks. She wanted to end the match quickly, really.

It had been pitiful for her to see Kira now charge towards her, a flame engulfing her left fist, and Kagura stopped her with a powerful punch to the stomach. The force of her punch sent Kira rolling across the ground, the red-haired merchant now seeing why Minerva told her to get serious, and Kira started to look frustrated at how Kagura could stop or just dodge her attacks with little effort. Kagura's sword could even slash through her fiery attacks, so what could Kira do? She began to clench her fists while knowing how Minerva would be angry with her for losing, and Kira slowly got up again.

"Sometimes, mermaids can devour tigers. You should just give up, before this becomes more painful than it has to be." Kagura told Kira in a calm tone as she watched the fire-wielding mage cough up more blood.

Lucy shouted down to Kira as she looked concerned, deciding to give her a push, "Kira, you're letting Kagura walk all over you! Show us those powerful flames of yours!"

Kira thought to herself as she heard Lucy's words while facing Kagura, feeling like the odds were against her, _"Lucy, I know the situation is bad. It seems like none of my spells can hit Kagura at all. It seems like she's good at reading my attacks, and she knows how to react to my spells."_

At that moment, Kira widened her hazel eyes while they had a look of realization in them. If she couldn't burn Kagura with her flames, then couldn't she burn everything else on the battlefield? Kira activated a new move called Flaming Lava Burst, and it caused six large flames to emerge from her mouth. They were surprisingly not aimed at Kagura, hitting the sand to create six explosions of Fire Magic that struck random areas, and their heat was pretty intense. The explosions on the dense sand left behind large flames, but those flames soon melted down into red lava that bubbled!

Kira fired the Cherished Flame spell again, aiming it straight at one of Hyde's rocks, and she liked how this move got powered up by the high amount of heat coming up from the lava. The rock soon became red hot, before it melted down into a pool of lava, and Kira watched her flames explode! She also fired a large red sphere of lava from her left hand, liking how it was the same spell she used in the preliminaries to help Sabertooth win, and it was actually named Volcanic Burning Flare. This move became more powerful with distance, and the sight of many flames heading towards a brown rock made Kira smile.

The flames moved quite fast, creating a fiery explosion, but Kira moved her left hand to make the flames dance towards herself and Kagura. They came back towards the girls, causing Kagura to jump quite high, but then Kira lowered the index finger of her left hand to make those flames become hot puddles of lava! All of the red hot puddles soon joined together to create what looked like a battlefield of bubbling lava that had flames coming out of it, and only the spot where Kagura originally stood was not covered in lava. She looked down at Kira to see her smiling quite confidently, and the temperature in the arena certainly grew to quite a hot level.

Kagura appeared to be shocked, thinking that Kira was crazy enough to try burning her in that large pool of lava, but she used the Strong Form of her sword while planning to come down on Kira. The red-haired merchant quickly activated a new healing spell while simultaneously eating some of the lava, and Kira watched the other rocks melt down into volcanic lava while a red aura surrounded her body. The high temperature made the aura have the appearance of flames around her body, and many wizards from the various guilds looked surprised at that while they sweated profusely.

"This match is going to end now." Kagura calmly stated with a serious look on her face, as she was about to hit Kira.

Kira replied with her eyes closed, smiling as she felt the Fire Magic send power into her arms and legs, "The heat is just starting to get turned up! Maybe I'll make it hotter!"

Rogue told Kira from the booth, cheering her on while Frosch cutely pretended to exhale fire, "You're doing great, Kira! Your strategy is magnificent!"

Everyone besides Rogue was now surprised to see Kira standing on the lava without getting burnt, which was because of the hot aura around her, and the snarky girl jumped high into the air! The Strong Form of Kagura's sword broke through most of the sandy battlefield with ease, but she soon got propelled up into the air by a fiery eruption of lava that created a fiery blast upon hitting her! Kira had made her lava burn through the dense sand, softening it up, and her lava was creating several eruptions from below! Many chunks of earth were sent flying up into the air while others fell down into the hellish lava, but they were all now red-hot.

Kagura was quick to jump upward from chunk to chunk, but Kira soon came down from the sky to face her. She activated a move known as Fiery Blaze Kick, and Kira felt flames spiral around her legs while they moved quite fast. She let Kagura swing her left fist at her in this close combat situation, but Kira was fast enough to duck and firmly put her left hand on the ground. She raised up her left foot to harshly kick Kagura in the stomach, sending her flying upward to crash into a hot chunk of earth, and Kira watched the fiery explosion occur!

Kagura emerged from the flames while her skin looked charred from all the damage she took, her shirt and pants being halfway burnt off, and she swung her sheathed sword down at Kira. The mage from Sabertooth was quick to jump upward, though, and she unleashed a new spell called Flame Cannon. This move made flames surround her fists again, and she came down towards Kagura to hit her with a fiery punch that made a twister of fire surround Kagura! The twister struck Kagura with its flaming ferocity, but brushing it aside with her strong sword only made Kira strike her once more in the chest with a punch that was twice as strong.

Kagura cleverly used her sword's slashing form to send a slashing wave of the twister's flames towards Kira, who responded quickly by some back-flips from one chunk of earth to another, and Kagura narrowed her hazel eyes from seeing the flames strike Kira! This damage from Kagura's slash certainly hurt Kira, but the flaming hot aura around her body began to heal her wounds. She still used that pain to her advantage, though, and Kira felt like she needed to reveal some of her secret moves. What would they be?

"Time for my next move, and it's called Hino's Flaming Charge!" Kira exclaimed down to Kagura while she began spinning down towards her, purposely using her left hand to break off a small piece of the earth she stood on.

Kagura stated in a stern manner, clearly having underestimated the Sabertooth mage's strength, "She's so unorthodox, and it seems like she is quite a fiery warrior."

Kira told Kagura as she spun down towards her, before going back up to instead burn through the small piece of earth, "I'll burn my way to victory through the fierceness of my flames and admiration!"

When Kira's flames burnt through the hot earth, her spinning speed increased while she began to move faster. Kira could feel Kagura jumping up after her to finish this fight, prompting her to break off two more chunks of earth, and Kira let the flames in her hands melt them down into lava. Hino's Flame Charge was a move that became much faster and more powerful with each attack, and Kira was soon moving at incredibly fast speeds! She leaped from chunk to chunk while Kagura and the Lacrima Vision screens attempted to keep track of her, and many people were amazed by this battle.

Kira soon appeared behind Kagura to hit her in the back with her right elbow, before striking her from the left and right sides with seven fiery punches, and Kagura soon fell off of the rock she stood on. Seven fiery explosions transpired in midair, though, and she was sent flying upward towards Kira. Kagura dealt a fierce punch to her face, before striking her with the Slashing Form, but her fist making contact with Kira's fiery aura merely caused Kagura's left hand to be set ablaze! Kira soon landed on a rock, before zooming up at Kagura, and her skills were surprising everyone. Those punches were part of a spell named Hot Hellish Barrage, by the way.

Lucy could only have an amazed look on her face as she watched Kira on the Lacrima Vision screen, really surprised that she was at these levels of strength and speed, but she wasn't as amazed as Minerva. Even Rufus found it difficult to make his memory keep up with Kira's fast movements, since Hino's Flame Charge was still active even when Kira used her next move, and Kagura only landed those hits because of Kira being close to her. Sting and Lector were also pretty astounded by Kira's level of power, but Rogue merely smiled from seeing how his teammate was so amazing. Frosch would think she was amazing, too.

With the battle now having gone on for seventeen minutes, Kira and Kagura both felt like it was time to end this match. The strong woman from Mermaid Heel kicked her opponent higher into the air by raising her left leg up at the last second, but Kira shot down a red fireball from her mouth while three red flames surrounded it. Kira soon charged down from above to strike Kagura, moving towards her at full force, and the two women were about to crash through a rock. As Kira headed down towards Kagura and the fiery attack, though, her hazel eyes shifted to Lucy.

 _"Lucy... This is me when I'm serious, and I was saving these moves for the day that we'd battle!"_ Kira thought to herself with a stern expression, before turning her attention back to Kagura.

Erza openly stated while looking very surprised, "Wow. Kira wasn't just a big talker, after all. She's a good opponent for Kagura."

Gray told her in a calm manner, personally rooting for Sabertooth in this fight, "Yeah, she's strong."

Kira watched the attack slightly touch Kagura's belly, before stretching her left fist into it, and she ended this match with a fierce move known as Hell's Burning Magma. The fiery energy was now infusing with the fierceness of her punch, and Kira slammed her left fist against Kagura's stomach! Her opponent screamed in pain from that punch while they both descended to a large piece of the battlefield that remained, and a massive explosion occurred when they made contact with it! The heat was pretty intense, even making the snacks of customers suddenly be red-hot while they nearly burnt, but Natsu was inhaling the heat waves like they were nothing.

The incredibly hot chunks of earth that were in the air had finally fallen into the pool of lava, all of that heat making a large red maelstrom of flames be seen, and all of the spectators were very shocked to see a match like this. Some people thought that Kira and Kagura were now both dead from that fall while others thought they'd have to be in surgery for the rest of the competition, but people like Lucy and Sting thought their teammate would be fine. That was certainly an intense match between two women with very different styles of fighting, and the red clouds of smoke were starting to clear up.

The towering maelstrom and the smoke faded away to reveal that Kira and Kagura were both standing across from each other while the large piece of the battlefield only crumbled slightly, both women being bloody and bruised, but who would win? They both panted heavily while hardly being able to move, and Kira's final move made her body take recoil damage. The stern look in Kagura's hazel eyes changed to a respectable one as she enjoyed that battle against Kira, starting to smile respectfully, and Kira watched her opponent fall forward to be at her feet. Kira fell to her knees while panting, and she looked up at all the spectators.

Several of the mages from the other guilds were just as quiet as the spectators who had dropped their jaws in amazement, but that silence was broken by a certain shadow dragon slayer clapping his hands loudly to give Kira respect. Lucy and Sting applauded her as well while Rufus and Orga also clapped their hands, and many of the other competitors got over their shock to applaud Kira as well. Many of the males in the audience started to cheer Kira's name, saying how that battle was very awesome, and even the judges were impressed.

Chapati stated in a thrilled manner while seeing Mato be up in the stands to avoid the lava, "What a fiery battle between the two personalities of calm and excited! What a crazy battle of swordsmanship versus Fire Magic! The winner is Kira Blazia! Sabertooth now has forty points!"

Jason exclaimed as he looked pretty excited, comically spinning around fast in his chair, "Hot lava and fiery punches! Slashing swords and powerful kicks! That was so very cool!"

Rogue shouted to Kira as he looked very pleased, "Kira, you were awesome out there! You're really talented!"

The sight of the red-haired girl blushing was captured by the Lacrima Vision screen while she looked at Rogue, but Kira soon found herself being warped to Sabertooth's booth by Minerva. Rufus would use a healing spell on her while Lucy and Sting would go over to Lamia Scale's booth for the purpose of asking Hizuki to heal Kagura, and Kira merely looked up at Minerva to see her usual glare of disapproval turn into a respectful smile. She felt like wanting to happily hug Kira, but Minerva would save it for later to uphold her public image of being a refined woman.

* * *

 **Three hours later...**

After Kira was fully healed, she and Rogue decided to visit the candy store that was operated by the dark mages from Mumargi Town. The violet carpet went well with the lavender walls, giving this shop a nice atmosphere, and several jars of treats were on the counter while candy also rested on the shelves behind the shopkeepers. The guy with blue eyes wore a purple blazer with a black shirt and purple business pants to match while he had messy white hair, and the other wizard simply had on a purple T-shirt with black jeans to match. His hair was short and purple while his eyes were jungle green, and both men were happy to have customers in the store.

Kira had received praise from the citizens who she and Rogue saw on their way to buy some sweets, even hearing Bacchus from Quatro Cerberus confidently tell her that she was a wild woman, but she felt very glad that Rogue cheered her on in that match. He never lost faith in her for a moment, knowing full well that she could use her hot spells to turn the battle around, and Rogue decided to give Kira a joyous hug for winning. They certainly had time to hug while waiting in line, and Kira blushed bright pink from how her face was close to Rogue's chest.

She giggled while looking up at him, wanting to congratulate him for his victory that also occurred today, and Kira returned the hug. The two mages both thought about their wins, liking how one victory involved dark calmness while the other victory involved heated fierceness, and Rogue watched Kira end the hug while happily promising to buy him a nice basket of candy. The black-haired male was pretty glad to see Kira being so happy, no longer dealing with tension from Minerva, and he would definitely share that delicious candy with her.

As Rogue took a few steps forward with his partner, he watched her fists be clenched again while she looked thrilled. Kira may have learned to fight at a more serious level in the Grand Magic Games, but she still retained her quirky demeanor. Kira smiled happily as she let out a cheer of excitement, feeling very psyched that she won, and even Beth from Mermaid Heel didn't mind that she stood right behind the person who beat Kagura. Kira was happy to playfully dance around, almost acting like she just won the whole competition, and Rogue felt like she deserved to celebrate.

"Rogue, we won in the event and the battle! My fight was awesome, but you were just as amazing! Dodging all those beams of light must've been tough, but we won!" Kira happily told Rogue as she began to hold his hands, before giggling at how the team was doing very well.

The red-eyed dragon slayer replied nicely, blushing at the sight of Kira's cute smile, "Yeah, that was a pretty tough event. Kira, I'm still very proud of you for how well those spells were used in your battle, and I bet you'd really do great as the authority figure in Emblaze Island's portion of the ancient challenge."

Kira replied kindly, putting her left index finger on Rogue's lips, "I still enjoy being a merchant, Rogue. Maybe that fiery guy from Fairy Tail could do it, since he would need to train more to beat Takuya."

Rogue and Kira moved up in the line while they both thought about that possibility, and Rogue actually felt like Natsu would probably go crazy on his opponents in those battles for the Fire Crystals. In fact, people would probably have to find the crystals and run out of the volcano if they weren't tough enough to fight him. Kira was someone who would probably restrain herself against opponents, since the red crystal was the first one in the challenge, and making things be somewhat easy seemed like a nice thing to do for the wizards who chose to begin their adventure by going to Emblaze Island.

Kira was quite happy to see that she and Rogue were now standing behind one person, and she felt like it would be nice to buy the deluxe basket that was featured on a sign above the shelves. It apparently contained six different types of chocolates, along with several large lollipops, and four boxes of chocolate fudge brownies would also be included. The candy would probably make Kira and Rogue become fatter like how it affected Jenny, since the treats were infused with Darkness Magic, but the shopkeepers were nice enough to use nullification spells of Darkness Magic on any baskets of candy that were purchased by people who did not want to gain weight.

Upon seeing the thin woman in front of them purchase seven candy bars and leave, Kira was quick to stroll up to the counter with Rogue. She soon felt that there was no cash in the pockets of her skirt, however, and Kira's eyes were soon filled with disappointment. She and Rogue were about to leave the line, but they suddenly heard the candy store's bell ring wildly in a celebratory fashion for some reason. Why was this happening? Kira's hazel eyes soon widened with curiosity while Rogue was also wondering what was going on, and she shifted her attention to the grinning shopkeepers.

Apparently, Kira was now their 100th customer during the tournament. The shopkeeper with white hair decided to give her a wooden deluxe basket of candy for free, even putting one fudge brownie on top of the chocolate bars, and Kira accepted the basket with a nice smile on her face. She walked away from the counter while carrying the basket in her hands, and Kira also thought more about how she'd thank Rogue for cheering her on. Sweets would be a nice bonus to go well with Sabertooth's second feast of victory, but Kira felt so glad that all her training with Rogue led to today's success.

"Rogue, you still have blueberry pie on your lips from this morning's breakfast." Kira told him while pretending to notice it, looking concerned as she set the basket down on the floor for a moment.

He responded to her claim in a confused manner, knowing he ate neatly with etiquette, "Kira, I'm sure that I wiped my mouth after eating. Thanks for seeing that, though, and I'll-"

The shadow dragon slayer was cut off by the feeling of Kira gently pressing her lips against his, causing him to blush as he slowly closed his eyes, and Kira's eyes were closed as well. She put her hands on his shoulders while feeling him put his arms around her waist, and Kira's cheeks blushed bubblegum pink as she felt Rogue softly return the lovely kiss. Their lips made the kiss be quite soft, but it was still a warm kiss that involved Kira feeling so glad about how Rogue rooted for her. In fact, he was pretty happy to find out that Kira would be the one to fight Kagura. That was her personal moment to show everyone how she had the skills to back up her words from yesterday.

The two mages from Sabertooth soon broke the kiss, and Kira picked up the basket of treats with her right hand. She looked into Rogue's eyes for a moment, sighing happily from how they shared a nice kiss, and Kira proceeded to run out of the store a few moments before Minerva went into the candy shop. Rogue wasted no time with running after her, and the two wizards were going to meet up with Lucy and Sting. They ran past Minerva, who could only make her lips form a nice smile at how her efforts to make Kira prove that she wasn't weak had paid off in nice ways.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 35? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Kira and Rogue are finally a couple! I made this chapter give Kira most of the spotlight to give her and Rogue some more development, by the way. I'd also like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed the story! You motivate me to keep writing. The story gets so exciting, even for me!**


	36. Chapter 36

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Grand Magic Games, Day 3: Beauty and Brains**

* * *

Lucy stood outside of Sabertooth's inn with Sting and her teammates, and she smiled happily as the sun's rays of light shined down on to her face. The third day of the Grand Magic Games had arrived, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard was quite happy about that. Sabertooth started to get recognition again, as some citizens who passed by the group joyfully greeted them, and one man even gave Team Sabertooth a thumbs-up while noticing them for a moment. Clearly, Sabertooth was starting to get more popular. Unlike last year, they really did well on the second day of the tournament.

Lucy still felt astounded by Kira's strength in her match against Kagura, not expecting the red-haired merchant to have those fiery spells that were definitely amazing, and the way Kira fought in that heated battle only made Lucy feel pumped up for her own fight against someone from another guild. She felt like it would be great to show off more of her skills, as she really couldn't just use Heavenly Body Magic all the time, but which crystal would need to be placed on the spell book? That was the tricky part of using a different type of magic, since Lucy wouldn't know who the opponent would be.

If she chose the wrong set of spells to use, then things certainly would end badly. Lucy looked down at her black shirt and orange skirt that went well with her purple flat shoes as a careful expression found its way on to her face, and she really hoped to not deal with anyone who could overpower her with ease. Lucy turned her attention to Kira, who simply gave her a joyful smile of confidence, and seeing Kira feel satisfied made Lucy think somewhat deeper about that fight against Kagura. If Kira could make the match be turned around to where it was in her favor, then couldn't Lucy also do that?

After all, Lucy did earn most of her Rainbow Crystals by turning the battles around to where she would obtain victory. Despite the fact that the opponents seemed to be much tougher than they were last year, Lucy would defeat them by using her strong spells in clever ways. Last night, she actually thought about how it would be very interesting to upgrade her spells like how Hizuki made her final attack go from being dark green to being jungle green in the fight against Natsu. Evolving spells was something that Lucy could not do yet, but she was still curious about it.

"Kira, how could I evolve my spells?" Lucy asked her with a smile on her face, as her cocoa brown eyes somewhat twinkled.

The fire-wielding mage responded nicely, as she thought about it, "Well, the simplest way is to train hard with them. Another method of raising your spells up to a higher level is to fuse two compatible types of magic together. When you do that, the spells can be more fascinating."

Sting added nicely as he smiled at Lucy, "Fusions can be just as strong as Unison Raids, in some cases. It looks like someone's thinking about getting much stronger."

Lucy confidently informed Sting that she was definitely planning to boost her strength, since the blonde-haired girl probably needed to be stronger for the purpose of unlocking the spell book's next sets of spells that still weren't readable, and Lucy would be sure to do well today. She hoped to be the person who would fight today for her team, and Lucy was not going to let her teammates down. Rufus and Kira did very well in their battles, so it really was only natural for Lucy to feel like she needed to keep the winning streak going.

She was soon given a kiss on the lips by Sting, blushing pink while assuming that he gave her this nice kiss for good luck, and Lucy happily looked into Sting's eyes as she felt like it would be great to show him how much she had improved in the past three months. Lucy's skills had risen to a pretty awesome level that would've probably made Kyouji have feelings of fear, but she wouldn't automatically believe that she was unbeatable. After all, increasing the power of her spells wasn't the same as evolving her magic to where her attacks looked incredibly strong.

As Lucy felt like thinking about which spells she'd use today, the sight of a hot dog vendor dropping a brown bag of money at Kira's feet as he passed by the group was enough to get her attention. She was about to tell the vendor that he dropped a large bag that contained 100,000 jewels, but Kira happily stated that she received her money from selling hot dogs at sunset. Even though Kira had been a merchant, she was glad to take over the hot dog cart for a vendor who felt lazy enough to ask her to manage it for him. Her first customer had almost been Minerva, but a rich man approached the women.

Lucy felt surprised to hear Minerva bring up how Kira got that money from selling only ten hot dogs yesterday evening, but that was because of how her wealthy customer seemed famished. He actually felt hungry enough to buy ten of them for 1,000 jewels each, but Minerva increased the price to ten-thousand jewels per hot dog. Due to how Kira earned her respect and gave Sabertooth some crucial points, Minerva felt like it was only fair for her to help Kira get a high profit. The red-haired merchant actually ran off before the hot dog vendor could come back to give her the bag of money last night to keep for herself, but at least she got it today.

"Well, we should go to the Domus Flau. After all, the champions should always get there before the other teams." Minerva told her teammates in a calm tone while smiling, before running off towards the arena with Rufus.

Kira confidently said as she ran back into the inn with Rogue, gladly holding the bag of money with her right hand, "After we put this money away, we'll follow them!"

Lucy told Sting while looking somewhat embarrassed as she heard him chuckle, "Well, at least they're psyched up for this morning's tournament."

The two protagonists chose to happily run after Minerva and Rufus while feeling good about today, and Sting's blue eyes glanced at Lucy as he felt like she would definitely win a fight against anybody. There was still the matter of fighting against someone from Fairy Tail, which could possibly be difficult, but Sting could only grin as he felt like Lucy would not lose. She wanted to show off her strength, and Sting also began to chuckle at how good it would be for a mouthy person like Erza Scarlet to see firsthand how Lucy became so much stronger.

Lucy held the pink spell book in her right hand while also feeling sure about her skills, and she was ready to fight against anyone. Even if her opponent was smart like Takuya or very strong like Kagura, Lucy would not back down. Besides, it really would not be good for her to lose today. Many people would be watching while some of them would really be rooting for Sabertooth, but let's just say that the guest judge for the third day of the tournament was someone who Lucy would want to impress. After all, getting a victory could inspire this person to someday hire her.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in a coffee shop...**

Samantha Kalos wore some black sunglasses to disguise herself while she was in Crocus today, not wanting the paparazzi to spend the entire day chasing her through the city, and she sat down at a black table in a coffee shop while some of the participants from this year's tournament were also getting coffee on this calm morning. Samantha felt pretty honored that the organizers of the Grand Magic Games contacted her to be a guest judge for today, and the magazines would certainly talk about what she wore on this day.

She merely wore one of her black T-shirts with some white pants to match, along with some black high heels that had white stripes on them, but Samantha had four black rhombus-shaped hair clips in her creamy blonde hair. Despite the fact that she wore sunglasses to hide her grey eyes that were quite charming, her disguise was rather shoddy. There was no way that anyone could think she was an ordinary civilian, but some of the people who were from the guild called Haina Ganseki didn't seem to care right now.

Samantha watched Shinji be hugged by one of his orange-haired teammates while the girl gave him a rather confident look, begging to compete in today's event, but Shinji didn't feel like it would be good for her to do that. He told the girl who wore a brown shirt and orange jean shorts that she was like a glass cannon, meaning that she could have powerful attacks while her defenses were not that great, and Hyde interrupted them by proudly saying that he would compete again. The girl with orange eyes calmly told Hyde that she wouldn't be careless like him, but Shinji covered both of their mouths with his hands before they could bicker.

Hibiki and Jenny from Blue Pegasus were also in the cafe, interestingly sitting at a table across from Samantha, and the two wizards hoped that their guild would not continue to be in sixth place. Jenny looked pretty upbeat about today, thinking that this would be where Blue Pegasus could get more points to be ahead of the other teams, and she confidently told Hibiki that they couldn't give up. Jenny seemed very excited about competing today while she stood up, and Hibiki's calm smile made her blush. As Jenny was about to give him a confident speech, she turned her head to see a certain woman who soon made her look irked.

"You're Samantha Kalos, the famous fashion designer! You know, it really wasn't funny to hit me with that magic! You made me far too skinny!" Jenny exclaimed to Samantha while walking over to her, clearly not fooled by the black sunglasses.

Samantha replied nicely as she took off her sunglasses, frowning at the sight of Jenny, "Oh, it's you. Well, I only made you be able to wear one of my dresses. In the world of fashion, a designer must make the model adapt to the clothes."

Jenny retorted harshly, narrowing her blue eyes, "I could've done that with Transformation Magic!"

Samantha simply scoffed at her while proceeding to fold her arms, saying how Transformation Magic was merely a cheater's bland way of trying to find success in the fashion industry, and she would have no interest in having Jenny as a model. After all, fashion was not simple enough to where Transformation Magic would be enough to make a model be successful. Samantha recalled her own days as a model, remembering how she always walked in a confident mood, and she felt like this blonde-haired girl certainly needed more practice with modeling.

Jenny walked up to Samantha while telling her that she could adapt to anything, as she had gotten stronger since last year's tournament, and being a model for the best clothes in Fiore would certainly make Jenny get more money. Samantha still gave her a look of refusal, but Jenny surprised her by saying that she could even take down people like Lucy Heartfilia in battles. Samantha thought about how that seemed pretty laughable, but the ambition in Jenny's eyes informed her that this woman really desired to wear her clothes.

Samantha initially felt like it would just be a waste of time to see Jenny fight anyone, but her grey eyes widened at the thought of getting to see more of Lucy's abilities. After seeing what Lucy could do in Shioru Town with the spell book and the Rainbow Crystals, Samantha had secretly been interested in seeing her skills again. The fashion designer imagined how great it would be to have Lucy work as a model for her company, but the confident girl would fail to truly get stronger if she wasn't fighting powerful opponents.

Upon seeing Jenny continue to give her a stern look while her eyes were starting to fill with confidence, Samantha merely told Jenny that she would be very great in a fight against anyone. In fact, Samantha soon looked apologetic as she observed Jenny's body. The celebrity surprised the wizard from Blue Pegasus by saying she was wrong to turn her down before, but Samantha became nicer as she told Jenny that the best models needed to show off some cockiness. After all, beautiful women did need to show off their egos. Some of Samantha's clothes were even made to represent the brightness of a woman's ego, and she'd love seeing Jenny wear them.

"You really think I'm great?" Jenny asked Samantha while she began to smile, glad to hear this praise come from a very fashionable woman.

Samantha responded sweetly, hoping Jenny would take the bait, "Yes, Jenny. However, be very smart and cocky. If you battle and fight hard, be at your cockiest."

Jenny told the designer with a cocky grin on her face, putting her hands on her hips, "If I get to fight, I'll show you how skilled I am! In fact, you'll be surprised by my newest transformation! It's powerful, and even Mira won't be able to defeat me!"

With the Grand Magic Games starting soon, Jenny said goodbye to Samantha before running out of the coffee shop. Hibiki followed her, and the fact that they left caused the members of Haina Ganseki to run out of the coffee shop as well. Neither one of the teams wanted to be late for the tournament, and they left Samantha alone with her thoughts. She would be interested in seeing Jenny fight Lucy, but the latter's skills were what she'd really be observing. With seven crystals at Lucy's disposal, it was only a matter of time before she'd learn how to ascend even higher with her magic.

As for Jenny, Samantha put a finger to her lips while wondering if it would truly be good to hire her. She would most likely be useful for just getting more information on how far Lucy had truly come with her spells, but there probably was potential for her to be a great. Losing the match would result in her being fired, however. Samantha felt like that scenario would result in Jenny's dream of modeling for her being crushed into black shards, down in ruins, but she still did need models who were cocky and not questioning her endgame motives. Samantha soon smirked about what happened to models who were hot on her trail, and they unfortunately remained in the shadows while she enjoyed the bright fame.

* * *

 **One hour later, in the Domus Flau...**

The ratings for the Grand Magic Games were still quite high, as many of the spectators decided to talk about how Kira's fight against Kagura was so awesome, and some people even brought up how Natsu jumped down to the battlefield after the match ended. He solely went down into the pool of lava to slurp it all up, liking how Kira's lava was incredibly hot, and Erza had to pull him out of the hole after five minutes. He had enjoyed eating it while Lisanna giggled at his appetite, but Erza and Gray were embarrassed at how did something stupidly comedic after a serious fight.

The Grand Magic Games also brought more tourists to the city of Crocus, and let's just say that a certain pink-haired guitarist was up in the stands today while she stood next to a certain stern princess who decided to personally watch the tournament while Hayato waited for her to return to Eisetsu Town. Minami asked Clair if she thought today's event and battles would be great like rock music, and Clair merely gave her a bored look while holding a large bottle of cola in her right hand. She simply stated that the tournament needed an ice skating event, and she began drinking her cold cola.

As Clair took several sips from the bottle and swallowed her soda, her blue eyes soon shifted to the booth where Sabertooth's members were located. She could see Lucy happily chatting with Sting, and Clair began to smile in a confident manner from how she could see fierceness in Lucy's eyes during the first day of the tournament. She hoped that the blonde-haired girl would continue to show off her strength with some powerful attacks, and Clair would have a weird way of cheering for her. Unlike how Minami would be psyched to see Lucy fight, Clair would only tell her to slam the enemy down with intense amounts of water.

Everyone soon heard Chapati test his microphone once again while he was getting ready to announce what today's event would be, and some people wondered if the event would be as destructive as Darkness Seeker. Some people hoped that the event would once again be Pandemonium, since it would be spectacular to see Erza Scarlet defeat 100 monsters again by herself, but other people desired for the tournament to have an archery contest. The event that would transpire today would be somewhat odd, however.

"Hello, everybody! Today's event is Magical Fashion Flair, and it seems quite fun! In this event, whoever shows off their magic in an appealing way will win first place! Also, there is the possibility of two people getting ten points for their teams! That just depends on your performance!" Chapati announced to the crowd while seeming pretty excited, as he smiled brightly.

Yajima commented as he looked calm, folding his arms, "This should be interesting to watch, since most wizards don't normally focus on the beauty of their moves."

Samantha Kalos added with a delighted facial expression, as a Lacrima Vision screen focused on her, "This is certainly a great event, especially when it advertises fashion! Whether it's on a stage or runway, show us that passion for fashion! Be like models, but for magic! Make us see which types of magic are hot, and which ones are not."

As the spectators cheered happily from seeing that the famous fashion designer was here, Natsu decided to compete for Team Fairy Tail A. This surprised his teammates, who felt like he couldn't distinguish flair from flare, but Natsu jumped down from his team's booth. Juvia chose to compete for Team Fairy Tail B, wanting to win points for Gray, and Chelia would compete for Lamia Scale. Jenny would try to earn points for Blue Pegasus while Risley would play for Mermaid Heel, and Bacchus would attempt to get points for Team Quatro Cerberus. Shinji was about to participate for Haina Ganseki, but his teammate named Moka Ishidatami went down to be in the event.

Minerva felt like she would do very well in an event involving fashion, but Lucy looked pretty confident while she jumped down from Sabertooth's booth. If this event was going to focus on showing how a spell could be appealing, Lucy certainly had a spell that would probably blow everyone away. In fact, this last spell of Heavenly Body Magic was rather special. She had been waiting to unleash it when the spell could creatively be used, and Lucy really liked seeing the spell's description in the book. What was it going to be?

The eight competitors went to the center of the sandy battlefield to see Mato give the command for the field to open, and it was surprisingly a black stage with a small staircase on the left side. There was a purple tiled catwalk extending from the center of the stage while it was lined with gold metal, and the competitors were told to line up. Natsu was excited to be at the front of the line while Lucy chose to be at the back of the line, and a gong was struck for the event to begin. Chapati instructed the competitors that they could use any kind of magic, and Natsu thought this event would be easy.

He went up the stairs and on to the catwalk while looking confident, and Natsu aimed his Fire Dragon's Roar down at the ground. It created a fiery explosion that left behind some flames, and Natsu smiled while folding his arms. He expected to get praise from the judges, only to see the Lacrima Vision screen display Samantha holding up four fingers while she looked bored, and that meant Natsu's team got fourth place in this event. He jumped off the catwalk while comically asking the judges if they were serious, and Samantha's response would surprise him.

"If I wanted to see flames, I would tell my personal chef to prepare a spicy meal. To me, those flames had no flair." The fashion designer explained to him, before sighing.

Lisanna told Gray in a calm manner, looking a bit disappointed, "In the world of fashion, you have to impress who you work for. Making spells look appealing is the same as how a designer must make clothes look appealing, so the true judgement for this event comes down to what's good in the eyes of a designer."

Gray replied while putting his hands in his pockets, seeming somewhat irked, "We should've let you or Erza participate instead, Lisanna."

Natsu's performance was followed by Juvia using her Water Magic to make a large rain cloud appear in the sky, before making it harshly rain down on the battlefield, and the blue-haired woman soon made the water rise up to form some large waves. The watery waves crashed against each other, which was interesting, and Samantha gave Juvia an 8 out of 10. That meant her team got second place in this event, and Juvia soon made her rain cloud disappear. That performance seemed like it would be tough to follow, really.

The next person on the catwalk was Chelia, and she formed two large tornadoes of black wind with her Sky God Slayer Magic. They circled around the battlefield in clockwise directions, mimicking Takuya's tactic, and Chelia's tornadoes soon flew upward to explode in midair. Samantha gave her a 6 out of 10 for that, thinking that was somewhat cool, but the blonde-haired celebrity gave Jenny a 3 out of 10 for transforming into a pink bikini while doing sexual poses on the catwalk. Even though most of the men in the arena were impressed, Samantha found that Transformation Magic to be bland.

When Risley's turn came around, she used her Gravity Magic to become skinnier. Samantha decided to give her one point, not finding it to be that interesting, but that wasn't as when it was time for Bacchus to show off his magic. He actually went off the catwalk to demonstrate how his strikes could greatly damage a wall in the Domus Flau, and he received no points for not staying on the stage. The members of Quatro Cerberus looked pretty shocked at how they still couldn't get any points, and they wondered if their purpose in the tournament was to provide comic relief.

Lucy watched Moka go up the steps to be on the stage while wondering which of them would get the higher score, and her brown eyes soon became filled with uncertainty about what would happen. She saw the girl with orange hair and orange eyes go to the catwalk, looking confident as she shot out five blobs of brown mud from her left hand, and the mud puddles landed on the sand. Moka raised her left hand in a slow manner before making it go around in circles, and five brown rings of mud rose up from the puddles. They went up into the air to spin around rapidly, before exploding in orange blasts that were quite large, and Samantha initially gave her two points. Upon seeing mud fall to the ground and be surrounded by an orange aura that gave the sand more density, however, she gave Moka bonus points to have a score of 10.

"Well, it looks like Lucy Heartfilia from Sabertooth is the only one left! Regardless of what she does, Sabertooth will get the ten points!" Chapati exclaimed in a shocked manner, realizing how the events had played out.

Samantha commented kindly, as her lips formed a smile, "Well, she did collect all seven crystals. Whatever spell she uses, she'll probably make it appealing."

Lucy thought to herself as she went up on the stage, her brown eyes starting to look quite fierce, _"After what Moka just did, it looks like I'll have to unleash that special move and make it look really good. Just like a friend of mine who wanted to form a band, I'm ready to rock."_

Lucy walked to the end of the tiled catwalk, the other competitors looking silent as they were several feet behind her, and the blonde-haired girl opened up the pink spell book with her right hand. She turned to the page with the picture of the Starry Crystal on it, and Lucy also pulled out the pearl pink case from the left pocket of her skirt. She took out the Starry Crystal while closing her eyes, and Lucy set the case down on the ground. She looked at the instructions for the pose in the pink spell book, and Lucy would enjoy this move.

She surprised everyone by starting to headbang like a rocker, raising her arms upward while her index fingers and her pinkie fingers were up. Her middle and ring fingers were held down by her thumb while she banged her head, and Lucy completed the pose by letting out a psyched up yell towards the sky. She attempted to use the Astral Star, only to see a pink aura engulf her body, and the clouds in the sky soon swirled around while they began to turn pink. In a few seconds, several pink star-shaped projectiles of heavenly energy began to come down from the sky!

Lucy's eyes turned pink to indicate that she could control them with psychic power, and she purposely made them come down towards her at a fast pace. Everyone was surprised to see Lucy punch one of the stars upward while her raised arm signaled for the other stars to move upward, and the stars all collided together to create a massive pink blast of Heavenly Body Magic! Its aftereffect made smaller star-shaped beams rain down from the sky, creating powerful blasts that could strike opponents who were on the ground, and the blasts were shaped like stars. The dense sand kept the blasts from breaking through the battlefield, and everyone looked amazed by that spell.

As Lucy saw the bubblegum pink clouds of smoke fade away, she looked at Samantha's face on the Lacrima Vision screen. The woman with creamy blonde hair smiled at Lucy while saying that her control over that spell was amazing, even saying that Heavenly Body Magic and psychic power were difficult to balance, and Lucy panted somewhat as she smiled. Her good performance earned Sabertooth ten points, and Lucy was glad to have used the S-Power of the Starry Crystal. She quickly put it back into the case, before putting the case in her skirt, and Lucy picked up the book while the judge's bell rang to signify that the event was over.

* * *

 **15 minutes later...**

Since the third day's event was over, the battle portion of the tournament was able to commence. The first battle paired Wendy from Fairy Tail A against Lyon from Lamia Scale, and that battle was interesting. Wendy used her Sky Dragon Slayer Magic to take down some ice owls that Lyon created, and she managed to avoid his projectiles that were shaped like eagle wings. Lyon used his Ice-Make Magic to create an icy hawk that flew up into one of the clouds, and he was hoping to unleash a hailstorm. The rest of the match involved Lyon and Wendy blocking each other's attacks until the bell rang making the end result be a draw, and both teams received five points. Even though Ooba wasn't happy, Chelia thought both of her friends fought well.

* * *

The second match of the day pitted Cana against Milliana, and the match started off with Cana throwing several explosive cards in her opponent's direction. Milliana dodged them all, however, and she managed to slash Cana's abdomen with her sharp claws. As Cana slid back, she threw a Sleep Card at Milliana's chest to make the wizard from Mermaid Heel comically fall asleep on the battlefield. Due to Milliana being unable to battle, Cana earned ten points for Team Fairy Tail B, putting her group several points ahead of Fairy Tail's other team.

* * *

The third match featured Moka from Haina Ganseki taking on Bacchus from Quatro Cerberus, and Bacchus surprised everyone by dodging all of Moka's muddy attacks. In fact, he even used his Palm Magic to utterly smash down her tidal wave of mud. He soon slammed his palms against her seven times, sending her crashing into a wall, and Moka was knocked out. Bacchus made his team finally earn ten points, and Hyde rudely scolded Moka for typically focusing on powerful attacks instead of trying to defend herself. Shinji may have been disappointed by Moka's loss, but her getting ten points earlier today made him feel that she had earned a day off from doing jobs at the guild.

* * *

Minerva could now see that Sabertooth was once again saved for the last match, and the opponent would be from the Blue Pegasus guild. Those wizards were actually well-known for their intelligence and beauty, but they didn't exactly seem like the strongest foes. Whoever had to face them would surely win easily, and Minerva could honestly just teleport them out of the arena. She looked at Lucy to see her using the Cerulean Crystal to make the spell book turn blue, and Minerva wouldn't mind if Lucy took out the enemy in one hit. In fact, she wanted to celebrate already. As Minerva smiled at Lucy, her green eyes soon shifted to the booth where the judges were located.

"All right, everyone! It is time for the final match of day three, and this fight seems like it will be a battle of brains versus beauty! Lucy Heartfilia versus Jenny Realight!" Chapati exclaimed as he looked thrilled, before spinning around in his chair.

Kira told Lucy in a happy tone while smiling, giving her a thumbs-up, "Good luck, Lucy! Take her down!"

Lucy replied nicely as she smiled at Kira, before looking at Sting, "I'll be sure to fight hard, and I'll be back here with a victory."

Lucy proceeded to jump down from Sabertooth's booth while smiling confidently, seeing Jenny do the same as she seemed cocky, and both of the wizards walked to the center of the battlefield. This was a rather strange pair of opponents, since one used Water Magic while the other was mainly good at transforming, and Lucy kept giving Jenny a confident look while feeling that she would win. The gong was struck for the battle to begin, and Sabertooth began cheering for Lucy. Erza surprised her teammates in Fairy Tail A by loudly cheering for Jenny, but who would win?

Jenny started off the match by transforming into a new outfit for combat, taking this seriously because of how her team was in sixth place, and Lucy was surprised to see this new outfit. Jenny now wore grey gloves that extended all the way up to her shoulders, along with grey armored boots that were thigh-high, and her high heels were also grey. She also wore a grey bodysuit with two bells tied to each of her hips by red strings, and Jenny also looked quite curvaceous while this outfit also made some metal holes be attached to the center of her palms. What was she planning to do?

Lucy decided to attack with her spell known as Aqua Cloud, causing a blue cloud of rain to appear high above her head, and this spell had grown in power to where it rained down on the entire sandy battlefield. The blue ball of Water Magic came down from the cloud, gaining lots of power on its descent towards Jenny, but the woman known as Miss Fiore stepped back while stretching her left hand out to where she almost touched Lucy's projectile. Jenny's magical power went from her hand to the ball of water, making it turn grey, and Jenny punched the attack back towards Lucy!

Lucy slid to her left side, thinking she could simply dodge the attack, but its grey blast of magic sent Lucy crashing against a wall! The attack let out a high-pitched sound when it struck the ground, making the dragon slayers cover their ears while everyone else did the same, but Lucy didn't care. She stood up while running towards Jenny, who merely touched the grey bells twice with her left hand, and they rang loudly while Jenny sent magical power into them. Lucy attempted to punch her with her right hand, only to be sent flying backward by another grey blast of energy that was much larger, and Lucy landed on the ground while feeling a tiny bit of pain in her ears.

"What kind of magic is that?" Lucy asked Jenny while she began to stand up, feeling slightly wobbly as she frowned at her foe.

Jenny explained to Lucy in a calm manner as she smiled, gently cracking her knuckles, "This is Sound Magic. You may be famous, Lucy, but you're not the only one who's been training hard."

Mira said to herself with a frown on her face, thinking about Lucy's battle, "That is indeed Sound Magic, and that type of magic is disastrous for Lucy right now."

The fact that Lucy wielded Water Magic right now was not good, as water could only amplify sound, and the waves of Jenny's attacks could be transmitted through the water in the arena right now. Lucy activated her next spell known as Aqua Blue Cyclone, and it made a blue drill of water surround her right hand. The drill propelled itself off of her hand to go towards Jenny at high speeds, but the woman from Blue Pegasus shot out a ball of grey energy from her right hand! It engulfed Lucy's attack while the water made it seem to double in size, and this Sound Bomb headed straight for Lucy! (I know Jenny can't canonically use Sound Magic, but go along with it.)

She tried to dodge it, only to have the blast send her crashing into another wall, and Lucy winced in pain while seeing the large blast occur. She looked frustrated while now realizing that she was at a disadvantage, but things got worse when Jenny applied Sound Magic to her hands and feet. She soon ran towards Lucy, swiftly appearing in front of her, and Jenny dealt seven punches to her body while her fists moved at high speeds! Lucy coughed up some blood while she could hear Jenny's loud punches, and she struggled to stay on her feet while Jenny aggressively kicked her away with her left foot.

Lucy rolled through the water while her hands were on her pained stomach, feeling her ears also be in pain from Jenny's sound waves, and she used the spell known as Aqua's Azure Grace to heal herself. A blue aura surrounded her body while her wounds began to heal, and the Water Magic formed blue skates that were now on Lucy's feet. Even though that was a nice side effect, how would skating be useful in this situation? Lucy saw her opponent begin walking towards her while she had to think quickly, and the cocky smirk on Jenny's face was not a good sign.

As Lucy began to feel like things were hopeless, she soon looked up at the sky to see one of the clouds glowing mint green. That cloud was actually filled with the coldness from Lyon's ice earlier, which was why it floated at a much slower than pace than normal, and it seemed nearly numb. Lucy felt like using Lyon's ice for herself to make this watery situation become iced down, and a smile began to form on her lips. This was definitely going to make Jenny chill, and Lucy would finally get to have some icy fun with these skates. Sting and Takuya both looked curious about her smile, so what move would Lucy use?

 _"There's that smile of yours, Lucy. Let's see what you'll do."_ Sting thought to himself, as he smiled at her.

Takuya thought to himself as he grinned in a confident manner, remembering that fight with Lucy, _"You're about to do something clever, Blondie. I can bet it'll be good."_

Jenny asked Lucy in an arrogant manner, preparing to use a powerful attack, "Are you going to give up, or shall I blow you away with a nice blast of sound?"

Lucy smiled while telling her that getting blown away couldn't be worse than freezing, and Lucy called upon the spell known as Hydro Drill. Four beams of water rose up from the watery flood that covered the sandy battlefield, and the beams took the shape of watery drills. Lucy aimed the index finger of her left hand up at the icy cloud that was charging up lots of power, and she surprised everyone by ordering her drills to head up to the cloud! Even Lyon couldn't guess that Lucy would use a move for that purpose, and she watched her projectiles spin up towards the cloud.

They struck the cloud to create a blue blast of energy, before large light blue pieces of hail rained down from the sky, and Lucy jumped upward while seeing the hail explode when it hit the ground! The pieces of ice froze the ground while their energy waves made the water splash upward, and the extremely cold temperature from the hail froze some of the water that splashed upward! There were now large icicles lining some parts of the battlefield while Lucy happily skated on the ice, and Jenny looked quite baffled while she did not expect Lucy to think of something like this.

The blue-eyed woman used her Sound Magic on the icy ground, making it crack loudly while water could now be seen, but Lucy kept skating around while directing her blue cloud of Water Magic to come near her. It soon made blue puddles of water appear on the ground, and Lucy skated over them to double her speed! She remembered how this spell worked well against Kyouji, and Lucy watched more puddles be created. As she skated over them to gain more Water Magic and move even faster, Jenny placed her left hand in the cold water to break the ice apart with a powerful sound wave!

As chunks of ice rose up into the air, Lucy decided to pull out the key of Aquarius from the right pocket of her skirt. She opened the Gate of The Water Bearer, summoning the blue-haired spirit, and Aquarius felt somewhat glad that Lucy summoned her in cold water instead of having her be on dirty water from a jug that was in a tower. Aquarius gathered up some water into her urn while looking fierce, watching the water bubble while steam came out of the urn to signify that this water was boiling to a high temperature, and the fact that Lucy got stronger had greatly helped her spirits get stronger as well. She put the key back in her skirt's right pocket, and then looked at Aquarius.

Lucy exclaimed while kicking some chunks of ice into the water, watching them create more blasts as they froze some of the water again, "Aquarius, shoot your water at Jenny! We're going to try a new move!"

Aquarius nodded while thinking to herself, liking Lucy's confidence, _"Lucy, you've certainly grown very strong. I mean, just look at yourself. Being bold enough to try new moves in the midst of a fight is risky, but you feel sure enough to do it."_

"Go, Lucy! You're fired up!" Natsu excitedly exclaimed to her, before Erza comically punched him on the head for cheering her on.

Lucy decided use the Aqua Pinball spell, and this move made a blue ball of water rise up from the flooded battlefield. Five twisters soon rose up from the water as well, and they spun towards Lucy's ball of water to get absorbed by it. They were increasing its density while a blue aura engulfed Lucy's body, and she threw a chunk of ice at the ball. That icy magic caused it to turn light blue before it absorbed the ice, and the blue ball fell down on to a larger chunk of ice for the purpose of bouncing off it. The Aqua Pinball landed on another piece of ice, before bouncing again, and it soon ricocheted off of a large icicle. It bounced and ricocheted around the arena four more times at a rapid pace, until Lucy managed to hit it with a strong punch, and the pinball headed straight for Jenny!

It struck her a few seconds before Aquarius hit her with a scalding hot drill of water, and a large light blue blast occurred! A blast in a regular shade of blue occurred afterwards, and Jenny screamed in pain from the powerful attacks! The hot steam melted some pieces of ice while Jenny heard her battle armor slightly crack in certain areas, and those dense attacks definitely created a good chance for Lucy to really turn this match around. Jenny picked up a piece of ice with her left hand, before throwing it upward and slamming her left palm against it, and that loud vibration of sound made her smirk confidently as the ice landed at Lucy's feet.

She watched Lucy get hit by the harsh grey blast that sent her flying upward, and it was strong enough to send several chunks of ice up at her. Jenny predicted that would happen, and she soon placed both of her hands in the water. She let it all go into the holes that generated sound waves, and Jenny aimed both of her hands up at Lucy. She fired large beams of sound up at Lucy, only to see her throw down a chunk of dense ice, and the explosion created winds that drowned out the rest of Jenny's sound. Her waves of sound may have been strong, but their frequency wasn't strong enough to smash through ice without winds occurring.

Jenny panted heavily while seeing light blue clouds of smoke appear in midair, not thinking that Lucy used that ice to create a smokescreen, and she soon saw Lucy come down towards her with a blue drill of water surrounding her left fist. Lucy made her drill touch some chunks of ice, causing it to turn light blue while it suddenly absorbed the ice, and Aqua Blue Cyclone was now evolving into Icy Cerulean Cyclone! Lucy used this spell four more times, recalling how Clair's final attack involved five drills of water surrounding her hand, and the four drills of water that appeared on the end of her icy drill also became light blue!

"You really want this to be a close-range fight?!" Jenny asked Lucy while her hands went down to her sides for the purpose of touching the bells when the time was right, her expression being somewhat stern.

Lucy replied with a stern look on her face while thinking about how she trained hard with this Water Magic, envisioning Clair saying the same words for a moment, "I will not lose to anyone, and my Water Magic is strong!"

Clair thought to herself as she smiled at Lucy, enjoying the fierce way she battled, _"Well, you've certainly improved with your skills. An ice drill is pretty powerful, but five of them means you're not messing around."_

Lucy threw her book down on to the ice while Jenny was now within her reach, and she clenched her right fist before proceding to give seven powerful punches to her foe's armor! Lucy purposely struck the areas that had cracks, making them expand like a virus, and striking Jenny's weak points caused her to feel some pain. Those punches were Lucy's way of getting revenge for Jenny's harsh hits to her body earlier, but Lucy was going to finish this fight. After all, a time limit of thirty minutes meant that it couldn't last forever.

As Jenny slightly stumbled backwards from receiving those punches, Lucy slammed her spinning drills against Jenny's chest! They soon propelled off of her hand, and the spinning drills sent Jenny crashing into a wall! Lucy leaped back a few feet while hearing Jenny make her bells ring, and she saw five large light blue blasts of Ice Magic occur! Jenny screamed in pain from this attack, feeling it ultimately shatter her armor into fragments while her long gloves were torn apart, and her Transformation Magic became undone to where she was back in her purple dress.

The waves of the blasts made the water roar to where it sent Lucy flying backwards, as well as making her blue book float on the large waves, and Lucy landed in the water while she watched her blue cloud of rain begin to disappear. The battlefield was now both icy and watery while her eyes caught sight of Aquarius returning to the Celestial Spirit World, and Lucy felt the skates around her feet soon go away. Her body felt somewhat shaky from all of the damage that she took, as well as being exhausted from how those last attacks took up lots of magical power, and Lucy tried her best to stand.

The smoke cleared up to reveal that Jenny Realight was bruised and bloodied like Lucy, but the only difference between the two opponents was that Jenny had been knocked out by that final attack. Lucy managed to be the winner of the fight, causing Sabertooth to earn ten more points, and she smiled happily while seeing her book float towards her. Sting joyously cheered her name, pretty glad to see Lucy win such a great fight, and the spectators also applauded her for how that was a great battle for them to see. Both women were known for their different areas of intelligence, so this was like a battle of wits.

"What an amazing battle of analyzing each other's moves! Both ladies adapted to their opponent's tactics pretty well, but Lucy Heartfilia wins in the end!" Chapati exclaimed with a look of amazement on his face, astounded at how the battle featured high levels of intellect.

Sting exclaimed to Lucy in a happy tone while seeing her walk towards the hallway with the book in her right hand, "Lucy, that was awesome! You just keep getting stronger!"

Lector added in a confident manner while smirking, joining his friends with clapping for Lucy, "That's how Lucy-san handles things! Even the people in the ancient challenge couldn't beat Sabertooth!"

Gray and Wendy joined Natsu with cheering for Lucy, pretty impressed that she could fight like that now, but Lisanna stayed quiet as she saw Erza tightly clench her fists. She slammed her left fist on the ledge, breaking off a small chunk of it, and Erza had a look of disbelief on her face. Even if Jenny was an opponent who Erza herself defeated in one hit last year, Lucy was actually that strong in the fight? Erza felt like her brown eyes were playing tricks on her, thinking that Lucy couldn't possibly have gotten to that level, and she went up into her team's hallway while feeling like she seriously needed a plan to beat Lucy down into the ground.

* * *

 **Three hours later...**

Lucy and Sting were now sitting down at a table that was on the patio of a cafe, enjoying some chocolate cakes that they were eating, and today was certainly interesting. Not only did Lucy get twenty points for her guild to remain in first place, but she didn't expect her Water Magic to work so well with the Ice Magic from Lyon's hailstorm. Lucy looked down at the spell book that pulsated in a light blue color for one moment, wondering about what other kinds of crazy spells she would wield later on, and she was quite glad that the battle against Jenny came with more than just points.

Lucy was also glad that Kira healed her body after the fight, but recently seeing her and Rogue eat desserts from a deluxe basket of candy at the inn was somewhat concerning. Both of those wizards became much chubbier from eating those sweets, even being chubby enough to where Minerva had to aggressively push them out of the inn's front doors, and they were ordered to go have the Darkness Magic from those desserts be nullified. Minerva did give Kira permission to later spend her money on other sweets at a different store, though.

"Today has certainly been interesting. The bad part is that the tag-team battle is tomorrow, though." Sting calmly stated, before frowning at his memories of last year's two-on-two battles.

Lucy asked Sting in a concerned tone, her eyes being filled with curiosity, "Why is that bad, Sting? Do you think we'll lose?"

Sting explained to his girlfriend in a calm tone, recalling last year's events, "Well, it's just that Sabertooth had to fight Fairy Tail last year. If you have to fight, Lucy, know that your old friends won't hold back. They've got immense friendship and ferocity on their side, which was how Natsu took down me and Rogue. It sucks to say this, but that just came to my mind."

Lucy soon frowned while looking down at her cake, wondering if she would have the strength to fight someone from Fairy Tail, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard felt like the people to really worry about would be Erza and Laxus. They were S-Class mages like Mirajane, powerful people who would not go down easily, and the desire to win had caused Fairy Tail to become last year's champions. Mirajane was also someone with the title of being an S-Class mage, and she was incredibly powerful with her Darkness Magic.

There was also the matter of having to fight Gray or Natsu, but Lucy wondered if those two boys would spend the entire battle fighting each other instead of directing their attention at her. They were still strong, so Lucy would have to be wary of them. Lisanna and Wendy were the unknown people in terms of strength, but Lucy could guess that they trained hard. Finally going against her friends from Fairy Tail was something that Lucy expected to happen at some point, but she hadn't exactly thought about a good strategy for taking on her old friends.

Her hands began to slightly tremble as she thought about Erza's power, remembering how her desire to win for her guild was what gave her immense strength, but Lucy narrowed her eyes while feeling like she couldn't afford to worry now. If Lucy had to go against the scarlet-haired woman, then she'd certainly have to be tough. In fact, Lucy wasn't planning on losing. If Erza was her enemy, Lucy would enjoy making her get beaten down. Erza perceived Lucy to be weak, but the mage from Sabertooth was going to show her how she was much stronger now.

Sting gently rubbed Lucy's hands with his own warm hands, soothing her while making her not shiver from feeling worried, and he calmly told Lucy that she would probably fight very hard. He even told Lucy that she wasn't just fighting for Sabertooth, but she'd fight for people like Hikari. After all, the people from Lucy's adventures had been tuning in to the Grand Magic Games. Even the dark mages from Hell's Blaze had watched the tournament, and they actually rooted for Kira when they saw her flames be as hot as theirs. Lucy thanked Sting for his encouragement while she smiled at him, preparing to kiss his lips, but the sounds of footsteps walking towards the table had caught her attention.

"Well, look what we have here. Lucy Heartfilia happily about to kiss her boyfriend and eating cake after beating a weak opponent." Erza stated to Lucy and Sting with a frown on her face, as she walked up to them while Mirajane was beside her.

Lucy asked Erza in a stern tone as she got up from the table, her brown eyes narrowed, "What do you want, Erza?"

The scarlet-haired woman told Lucy in a rude tone, denigrating her as she gave her a disapproving look, "I thought that I'd just come to tell you that it'll be nice to take you out in one hit. After all, you can't honestly believe you're strong from winning two easy events and having trouble against someone who is pathetic like you. Whether it's tomorrow or the day after that, your merciless beating is coming soon."

Mira looked embarrassed about this situation while she had only encountered Erza on her way back to the luxurious inn at the Crocus Gardens, and she hoped that punches would not be thrown. Lucy clenched her fists as she informed Erza that she'd regret acting so confident about their match before it even began, and the protagonist told Erza that she only saw a mere fraction of Lucy's skills in the tournament. Erza merely gave her an uncaring look while folding her arms, still believing that she would beat Lucy, but the verbal conflict was about to escalate.

Instead of getting mad at Erza in public, Lucy soon let out a breath of air while deciding to do what Kira would do in this situation. She asked Erza if she was secretly feeling threatened by her strength, which made Erza look somewhat shocked, and Lucy even brought up how the requipping wizard had to resort to Nakagami Armor last year in her fight against Minerva last year. Lucy confidently got in Erza's face while telling her that only a really cruddy wizard would use overpowered tactics in fights to become like a god, and Erza promptly stepped back several feet as she looked irked. She loudly told Lucy that she was weak, and she needed to shut that snarky mouth.

Their argument got the attention of bystanders, such as Shinji and Minami, but neither girl cared. Sting was actually proud to see Lucy standing for herself like this against a former friend, and he simply smiled. Erza rudely told Lucy that she was a loser who got lucky, but Lucy retorted that point by saying that Erza's desire to beat her down before apologizing made her even more of a loser. That prompted Erza to clench her fists, before angrily running towards Lucy, and she was going to strike her in the mouth with her left fist.

Much to everyone's surprise, however, Minami ran over to Lucy's side at high speeds to grab Erza's fist. She gave the agitated woman a stern glare while calmly slamming her backwards with her left elbow, and Mira actually gasped in shock from recognizing the guitarist's pink hair. Minami merely glared at Erza, before offering to be the person who she'd fight, but Erza began to just walk away with an irritated facial expression. Mira began walking away as well, but she'd surely tell Lisanna about this incident. Lucy merely watched Erza walk away, and she still looked stern. If Erza wanted to make this feud get physical, Lucy would show her firsthand how powerful she had become.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 36? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. This chapter was made to not only show how Lucy could improve her spells, but giving more development to Samantha was also necessary for the arc after this one. The events and battles were somewhat calmer than the last chapter, in order to give it some balance. This story is so exciting, though! :)**


	37. Chapter 37

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Grand Magic Games, Day 4: Settling The Matter**

* * *

The fourth day of the Grand Magic Games finally arrived, and this was the day where the tag-team battles would commence. Lucy currently stood in the foyer while waiting for her teammates to get ready, choosing to wear a purple midriff shirt with an orange skirt to match, and she leaned against one of the inn's walls. Her facial expression showed confidence about today, as Lucy was determined to not let Sabertooth lose, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard really wanted to make her guild see a victory. After all, it would make up for their humiliating defeat in the previous year.

Lucy noticed that Minerva stepped out of her room while her lips formed a smile of determination, but Lucy didn't feel like talking to her. She wanted to get a good victory against Fairy Tail, particularly desiring to triumph over Erza in the possible situation of fighting her, and Lucy certainly did not forget about the confrontation that happened yesterday. Erza almost hit her, and that made Lucy interpret that their conflict was now going to escalate up to being physical. If Erza wanted to battle her, then Lucy would make the scarlet-haired woman regret perceiving her to be weak.

As Lucy felt confident, however, she also felt somewhat nervous about facing the woman who was nicknamed Titania. Just like how Lucy could use the Rainbow Crystals to change which type of magic she could use for different situations, Erza could use different types of magic by changing her armors or weapons. Erza was someone who could even destroy giant monsters with one slash of her sword while she'd even be able to endure harsh attacks with ease, and Lucy hoped that Sabertooth would not fail against Fairy Tail. She tightly held the blue spell book in her right hand while wondering if winning was possible, though.

There was the likely scenario of Lucy and her partner nearly defeating Erza, only to see her get up and activate that legendary Nakagami Armor, and Erza's fierceness would probably be immense. Lucy's thoughts shifted back to how her own fierceness was enormous, as she made Jenny experience her fierce power and her ferocity in their fight, and Lucy needed to not have doubts. She let out a frustrated sigh that was loud enough to get Minerva's attention, and Lucy probably need some good motivation before today's tournament. Minerva began walking towards the younger girl, but what would she say?

"Good morning, Lucy. What's weighing on your mind?" The black-haired woman calmly asked her teammate while looking curious.

Lucy explained while seeming conflicted as her eyes shifted up from the ground to meet Minerva's calm stare, "Good morning, Minerva. This may seem really stupid, since our guild has been doing well, but I'm feeling both excited and anxious about possibly fighting Erza. I really want to feel fully confident, but I have doubts about beating her. Losing is not an option for me, though."

Minerva responded kindly as she put her hands on Lucy's shoulders, understanding how she felt, "Erza is tough, I know, but you're a strong wizard. If you get paired against her, Lucy, I'm sure you'll be okay."

Lucy began looking down at the ground again, even though Minerva's words were true, and she told her teammate about yesterday's drama. Sting and Lucy didn't tell the other members of Team Sabertooth about it yesterday, since they didn't want the drama to bring tension to the whole team, but Lucy could gladly tell one of her best friends about how Erza claimed she was pathetic for having difficulty with defeating Jenny. Erza had also claimed that Lucy was a loser who won her battles by luck, and hearing all of this news made Minerva narrow her green eyes.

Not only did Erza break her friendship with Lucy by making her time be wasted for months with trying to date Natsu, but now Erza had the audacity to still denigrate Lucy like she was a weakling? Lucy fought several hard battles to get those Rainbow Crystals, winning those recent events and the recent battle with clever skills, but Erza still refused to give her some respect? Minerva initially became friends with Lucy to get information on Fairy Tail for the Grand Magic Games, but Minerva did like it when Lucy congratulated her for succeeding greatly on jobs. Minerva could also give respect to people who deserved it, and Lucy was someone worthy enough to be respected.

Minerva was also not going to let anyone treat her teammates like they were weaklings, and she confidently told Lucy that it would be great to watch her shatter Erza's armors. Lucy promptly raised her head as she asked Minerva if that would be possible, based on how Erza's willpower always made her be quite strong, and Lucy clenched her left fist. She brought up how it would be embarrassing for Sabertooth to lose the tag-battle again, still looking unsure about what would happen, but Minerva sternly informed her that she was not just fighting for Sabertooth's reputation to be good.

Kira, Rogue, Rufus, and Sting came out of their rooms just in time to hear Minerva tell Lucy to fight hard for everyone she faced in the ancient challenge. Fighting someone from the guild of her past could be quite worrisome, but Minerva encouraged Lucy to fight fiercely for the people who helped her get to where she is now. Joining Sabertooth did play a role in how Lucy became much stronger, but the people she had to fight for the Rainbow Crystals probably showed her some amazing spells and great tactics. Minerva gave Lucy another smile of confidence as she told her to make Erza pay for calling her a weakling, and Kira also decided to give Lucy a nice push.

"Don't worry, Lucy! Erza may be from Fairy Tail, but you can beat her down! In fact, show that rude woman how you came so far! Getting seven crystals is no easy feat, and you'll show her that you're a splendid wizard!" The red-haired mage told her friend with a happy smile on her face, before giving her a thumbs-up.

Rogue told Kira in a calm manner, hoping they weren't thinking too far ahead, "There is a possibility that Lucy won't be fighting Erza, and they may not even meet in combat. We should just see what happens."

Lucy said nicely as she began to smile, before hugging Minerva for giving her the nice pep talk, "Thanks, everyone! I'm sorry that I was so worried about whether I would win or lose against Erza, especially when today's battles require us to work as a tag-team, and I'm not alone! When I fall into thoughts of uncertainty, you pull me out of them."

Minerva soon broke the hug with Lucy for the purpose of maintaining her image as a stern woman who wouldn't happily celebrate about things, and she ran out of the inn while wanting to get some waffles for breakfast. Lucy and Kira ran after her while giving each other some looks of confidence, and Rogue ran after the girls. Sting followed the group while Rufus was right behind him, and the wizard who used Memory-Make Magic enjoyed how Sabertooth's team never had any boring moments. In fact, fighting against Fairy Tail was something that interested him.

Rufus actually felt like Lucy had no reason to worry, as he could see her blue book continuing to pulsate in a light blue color, and he grinned while thinking that Lucy was full of surprises. He actually wondered what she would do in a fight against Fairy Tail, as Lucy's strategies were quite unorthodox because of how her foes were quite unpredictable, and Rufus would certainly memorize every moment of that battle. He anticipated it to be a fight that would be thrilling, especially since Fairy Tail's wizards hardly even saw the full extent of what Lucy could do.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at a cafe...**

After going back to the Crocus Gardens inn yesterday and telling Lisanna about how Erza nearly hit Lucy, Mirajane was surprised to see her younger sister give Erza a harsh slap to the face for doing something that wasn't part of an order. Mira was even more surprised to see Lisanna ask Makarov if she could switch teams with her sister for the day, due to Mira being someone who could truly restrain Erza from using fatal force in the situation of possibly battling Lucy in the tournament, and Makarov allowed the switch to occur.

Mira and the other members of Team Fairy Tail A sat down at a table while they still felt some tension from that little incident, and it even surprised Natsu and Gray to hear that Erza almost started a fight in public. Not only did that make Fairy Tail look kinda bad in the eyes of witnesses, but Mira felt pretty embarrassed that Minami had to intervene. For someone who liked to uphold the rules and give penalties to people who didn't follow them, Mira certainly got to see Minami turn the tables on her former friends from Fairy Tail. Mira dragged her away from the S-Class trial in embarrassment several years ago, and Minami certainly made Erza leave yesterday's scene with Mira feeling embarrassed. Fate certainly came back around, did it not?

Erza stated at last night's dinner how she would beat Lucy if she had to fight her in the situation where Fairy Tail and Sabertooth were opponents again, and she wouldn't hold back. Mira, however, felt like Erza would get trounced. For starters, she could sense Minami's level of magical power yesterday. The rocker only needed to use ten percent of her Heavenly Body Magic on her feet to swiftly be at Lucy's side, and Mira read the article where Minami talked about how Lucy worked alongside her to defeat Chisato. Mira softly giggled at Lucy's success, and she was actually proud of her.

Mira and Gray both felt that Erza would've never been able to obtain those seven Rainbow Crystals, especially since Takuya and Hizuki proved how they were skillful by easily defeating Natsu, and the woman with white hair felt like those two wizards were S-Class mages. They actually weren't, but their spells and levels of intelligence worked quite well together. If Lucy managed to get those seven crystals from tough people, then how could Erza stand a chance against her? As Mira was about to ask her about that, Erza gently cleared her throat.

"Well, this was the day in last year's tournament when Fairy Tail beat Sabertooth. We will beat them again, and I'll defeat Lucy with ease. If her partner is Minerva, then I'll be able to take her down as well." Erza stated confidently to her teammates, hoping to be matched up against both of those women.

Natsu replied with a puzzled look on his face, remembering two familiar people, "Doesn't Lucy have two of those weird crystals from fighting wizards who kicked our butts? Shouldn't you be more worried, Erza?"

Mira added sternly as she stood up, before folding her arms and having her eyes on Erza, "Lucy is pretty strong, you know. Jenny's Sound Magic wasn't weak at all, Erza, and Lucy was pretty strong while also outsmarting her. The people who she fought for those crystals probably showed off some great strategies to her, so I wouldn't be quick to run my mouth if I were you."

Erza merely brushed off Mirajane's statement by saying she already had a nice plan for taking down Lucy, and her facial expression showed off the overconfidence of her mood. She felt like Fairy Tail had zero chance of losing, especially since Erza could just defeat Minerva with strong slashes or kicks, and Erza would be sure to finish off Lucy in one shot. After the match was over, Erza planned to just squat down by Lucy's side and tell her that she was sorry about making her feel so much physical and emotional pain. She would even ask Lucy for forgiveness, if she wasn't crying from her loss.

Even though Erza told her team that she would not lose, Gray and Natsu both surprisingly sighed at how the situation of Erza fighting Lucy would certainly be tense. Last year, it was simply Fairy Tail getting back at Sabertooth for making them look bad in some events and hurting other people. This year, Sabertooth's team didn't think about picking on other people. They just wanted the points, but Gray assumed that Lucy told her teammates about her feud with Erza. Since the requipping woman was at fault for almost starting a fight yesterday and for losing Lucy's trust much earlier in the year, payback was certainly going to bite Erza in the butt.

Natsu folded his arms while openly saying that Lisanna was right about Erza asking for bad karma, prompting her to walk over to his side of the table to sternly get in his face while wanting him to repeat that comment, but Erza suddenly felt her rear harshly get smacked by someone. She slowly turned around to see that it was Mirajane, who merely shook her head in a displeased manner. Just because Lisanna wasn't here, that didn't mean Mira wouldn't enforce the rule about having to obey every command. Since Mira temporarily swapped teams with Lisanna, Erza had to obey her orders for the entire day.

Mira ordered Erza to go sit down, which she promptly did, and Gray felt like Mirajane could be even scarier than Erza. In fact, Mira could make Erza do anything she wanted her to do for the rest of the day. She could force Erza to dress up as a maid and serve her food, but disrespecting Lucy would probably lead to Mira forcing Erza to do something really embarrassing. Mirajane would also not mind if Lucy was beating Erza in the battle, even if she sent her flying out of the arena, and she would just battle Lucy's partner.

"Erza, remember that this is just a match in a tournament to see which guild will be the best one in Fiore. Don't make it escalate into ugly drama, and don't talk trash to Lucy or her partner if we win. If they win, then just deal with the loss." Mira told Erza with calmness in her blue eyes, after turning to face her.

Erza replied while looking stubborn, before reiterating a point, "Mirajane, I already told you that Lucy will go down in one hit. It won't turn into a tense situation with me getting riled up, if she's knocked out. When we win, I'll only have my apology to say to Lucy."

Gray asked his teammates in a calm manner while noticing that everyone's food was finished, "Are we going to get up from here to go to the Domus Flau?"

Mirajane looked at the clock on the wall to see that the current time was 9:45 in the morning, and the tournament started in one hour. She pulled out 5,000 jewels from the left pocket of her black dress to leave as payment for the food, just as their table's waiter was coming to get the money, and Mira got up from her seat. The other members of Team Fairy Tail A got up from their chairs as well, and they ran out of the restaurant while hoping to get a great victory in today's tag-team battle. Would they win, though?

Wendy ran alongside Mira while they gave each other confident looks, hoping to be matched against Sabertooth, but both of the girls really wanted to see if Lucy would give Erza a pretty harsh beating. Wendy was actually starting to dislike how Erza talked bad about Lucy, especially since the blonde-haired girl helped her get Hikari out of the rain, and the sky dragon slayer felt pretty happy to see the newspaper article that talked about Lucy defeating Akina. Mirajane hoped that fate would make Fairy Tail fight Sabertooth, and she really hoped that it would be an awesome fight.

* * *

 **One hour later, in the Domus Flau...**

The fact that Samantha Kalos was yesterday's guest judge really played a factor in how sales for her clothing were getting higher, and some women who only had the red Rainbow Crystal were satisfied with just buying some simple dresses from her store that was in Crocus. Samantha herself went back to the inn where she would be residing, but she did have to sign some autographs for the large amount of adoring fans who were happy to see her. She even went into a bakery for the purpose of buying a large chocolate cake for a young girl, but Samantha made it special.

The famous fashion designer put her initials on the cake with chocolate icing, certainly leaving her mark of fame on something sweet, and her presence at the tournament caused ratings to continue being quite high. Samantha also ran into Natsu yesterday, mainly due to him making a large rice ball nearly fly out of his hand, and he was surprised to see the guest judge catch the snack in her hands. She had placed it on the table where the fire dragon slayer sat down with Lisanna, and Samantha autographed her entire name on the rice ball by using a bottle of soy sauce. It may have been really weird to do that, but Samantha had lots of practice with giving out autographs.

Samantha was currently watching the tournament from a Lacrima Vision Crystal in her hotel room, but she wouldn't be the only one to surprisingly be interested in the Grand Magic Games. Kyouji stood in the stands while he was next to Chisato, who confidently asked him if he thought they'd see Lucy do something flashy again, and the man who wore the purple top hat smiled as he calmly told her that Lucy fought fiercely to earn the Requiem Crystal. That made Chisato and Yukata looked shocked, as they didn't expect to be near a person who had actual authority over a Rainbow Crystal, and people in every area that Lucy visited for the crystals would certainly keep their eyes on her.

Even though several of teams were waiting for the tag-team battles to begin, they still had to get through today's event. Some people felt like they really needed to participate, whether it be for the points or just for showing off, and the event would probably be interesting. After three events that were pretty fun to watch, what would be the rules for this game? Rogue and Gajeel both wanted to participate, but both of the dragon slayers really hoped that the event wouldn't be like Chariot. Motion sickness was not fun, especially in a race.

"Hello, ladies and gentlemen! Today's event is known as Desert's Dunes, and this event seems pretty fun! In this event, the competitors will race through a desert to reach the Domus Flau! It may seem easy, but this competition will have some surprises!" Chapati announced to the audience while wearing his brown wig, smiling in an excited manner.

Yajima commented nicely as he looked forward to this event, "This could be very promising for the Haina Ganseki guild. After all, they're said to reside in the Haina Desert."

Kenji added with a calm facial expression, happy to be here, "I'm Kenji Kuragari, and it's an honor to be the guest judge today! Thanks for requesting me to come all the way from Mumargi Town!"

Cana decided to participate for Team Fairy Tail B, not planning to lose against anyone by precious seconds, and Takuya decided to compete for Team Lamia Scale with Hizuki by his side. Yeager would compete for Team Quatro Cerberus, and Beth would compete again for Team Mermaid Heel. Ren decided to try earning points for Team Blue Pegasus, and Kurami Nendo decided that she would make Haina Ganseki be victorious in this event. Kurami was a girl who seemed to be around Chelia's age, and she had shoulder-length orange hair while wearing a yellow headband. Her eyes were violet, and she wore a red blouse with an orange polka-dot skirt to match while her flat shoes were yellow.

Lucy was about to participate, but Minerva warped down to the battlefield with a stern look on her face. She felt like this was her moment to join in on the fun, and Minerva's presence on the field made Erza jump down from her team's booth to play for Team Fairy Tail A. Minerva could only give Erza a look of disapproval, and the two women walked to the middle of the battlefield with the other competitors. Some people wondered how they would race to the Domus Flau, if they were already here, but this event certainly would have surprises.

Mato commanded the field to open, immediately warping the competitors to a starting line that appeared near the entrance to Crocus, and everyone in the arena could see the eight wizards on Lacrima Vision screens. The entire city of Crocus was now replaced with a vast desert, except for the Domus Flau, but there wasn't a straight path to it. Some of the sand was yellow in color while the sunlight harshly came down on the city to give this event some desert heat, and the brown sand that was around the paths seemed to be quicksand. It swallowed up a bug that went into it, so the competitors would need to stay on the path that involved some curves.

A gong was struck for the event to begin, and Kurami surprised everyone by running off at high speeds. She actually applied Earth Magic to her feet right before getting warped, and more strength in her feet caused her running speed to increase. The other competitors were quick to run after her, with Erza and Minerva fighting for second place as they approached the first right curve, and nobody wanted to get last place in this event. Any kind of magic was allowed, but who would be the first person to use it in this event?

"Hyde can use clay, but I use it better!" Kurami said aloud while smiling confidently, before shooting out five large pieces of brown clay from her mouth.

Erza told Minerva in an irked tone, as she tried pushing her to the right while they ran side by side, "Get out of my way, Minerva! Your sadism will get you nowhere in this event!"

Minerva countered while looking pretty displeased with Erza, aggressively shoving her to the left, "Don't even try to say that I'm sadistic, Erza! At least I know how to give someone a decent apology, and I wouldn't betray Lucy like you did! Back then, you probably laughed at her obliviously trying to date Natsu!"

Both of the women soon looked straight ahead to see Kurami kick a brown piece of clay, before jumping up into the air, and an orange blast occurred! Kurami was propelled even higher, and she back-flipped through the air! Just as she was about to fall towards the ground, Kurami spat down on another piece of clay to make it detonate. She used the orange blast to be sent flying forward to another part of the race, and everyone else seemed like they would hopelessly fall behind. Minerva, however, was not going to be shown up by the younger girl.

She and Erza ran to the next curve that would go left, before going straight ahead, and Minerva took notice of Kurami's clay going through the air. She used her Territory Magic to not only swap places with a piece of clay, but Minerva used her magic to also make two pieces of clay land near Erza's feet! Erza was quickly caught in the large blasts, causing her to scream, and she was passed up by Takuya while Hizuki rode the skateboard with him. Takuya aimed his left hand forward while his right hand was aimed backward, and he fired a mint green tornado from his right hand!

He purposely made it explode to make the winds propel him forward at a fast pace, and Takuya rode the wind upward in an attempt to reach Kurami. Erza narrowed her eyes while requipping into her Black Wing Armor, allowing her to fly at a high altitude, and she flew up into the air. Cana managed to gently grab Erza's left foot with her right hand, and she used a Feather Card on herself to simply make herself be light like a feather. Erza was now flying through the air with Cana not even weighing her down, and she wanted to catch up to Minerva.

Takuya shot out a mint green tornado at Erza, only to see her go around it, and Erza's used the explosions winds to be gusted forward! Takuya used two tornadoes to do the same thing, but the force of two tornadoes sent him flying much further with Hizuki! The duo landed in a section of the race that had cacti, which was actually near the end, but they soon found themselves having to dodge some fireballs that jumped around! That was also happening in the other section where Kurami was located, the orange-haired girl dodging fireballs as she tried to climb up some sand dunes, and even Minerva had to dodge two fireballs while Erza flew down to punch her in the face!

Erza sternly told her while landing on top of a large dune with Cana, needing to make this clear, "The conflict between me and Lucy shouldn't be any of your concern, Minerva! She wasn't even your friend last year!"

"That's funny. She used to be your friend, Erza. In fact, you were so mad at me for hurting her and double-crossing Kagura. However, you stabbed Lucy in the back by knowing about Natsu's crush on Lisanna for months and Lucy was never told about it. Really, such hypocrisy! She had to experience the feeling of rejection, and you didn't even care enough to apologize. Erza, you let her be led on like a fool. That's not the worst of it, though. Yesterday, you attempted to hit her and you also insulted her on the first day. Some friend you are, Erza. Don't ever call my friends weak, you jealous trash." Minerva explained to her with an equally stern glare, her words surprising the crowd.

Erza responded angrily at Minerva's words, particularly the last sentence, "I'm not jealous at all, Minerva! I can easily defeat her!"

Kurami smiled at the bickering women being distracted, and she applied more Earth Magic to her feet. The mage from Haina Ganseki giggled confidently while starting to run again, even aiming her left hand back at Minerva to create a large twister of sand that headed for her, and Kurami wasn't planning to lose. As she ran off towards the last few curves of the race, Minerva glared at her while trying to climb some sand dunes again. Even though the sandstorm was heading straight for her at rapid speeds, Minerva would not lose.

She unleashed a large energy wave down at her feet, giving it the properties to create a temporary earthquake, and the wave's tremendous force propelled Minerva upward! She laughed confidently while looking down at Kurami, who was quick to shoot another piece of her explosive clay upward, and let's just say that she made a bad move. Minerva's Territory Magic allowed her to swap places with the explosive clay, and the black-haired woman fell down to the sandy ground. Kurami attempted to run, only to have Minerva painfully land on her, but both women were quick to get up.

The Domus Flau was within sight, only being several feet away, and both females ran to the arena while giving each other fierce glares. They ran side by side while dodging fireballs that came down from the sun, their footsteps being perfectly in sync, but who would win? A large fireball soon came down to land behind Minerva, propelling her forward at high speeds, but Kurami put her arms around the older woman's waist gently to fly with her. Minerva attempted to shake her off, but Kurami smirked confidently as gooey clay surrounded her hands. She was now stuck to Minerva like glue, and Kurami even shot out a piece of clay from her mouth to hit another large fireball that landed behind Minerva.

Its winds made Minerva and Kurami fly somewhat further, and Kurami canceled her recent spell to make the clay no longer be on her hands. She stretched out her left hand while feeling Minerva press her left breast down on it, and Minerva stretched out her right hand. Who would get first place, though? Kurami could see the white finish line on the ground, also seeing Minerva's right hand about to go over it, and she pressed her body down on Minerva to make her land on the ground. Kurami was still on top of Minerva, but she did take notice of how her foe's right hand was mere centimeters away from touching the finish line.

"That was a really good race, Minerva. It could've gone either way, but it looks like I'll win!" Kurami nicely told her while looking confident, about to put her left foot over the finish line.

Minerva exclaimed as she got up, strictness in her green eyes while not intending to lose, "You won't beat me, little girl!"

Chapati announced to the crowd in a shocked manner, seeing both women put their left foot over the finish line at the exact same time, "Wow, Kurami and Minerva officially tied! What a shocker, folks! Haina Ganseki and Sabertooth both receive ten points, so whoever's in third place will receive eight points!"

Takuya and Hizuki watched a fireball explode right in front of them, only to see Erza getting closer to them while she was in her Black Wing Armor, but Takuya's ally smiled as she had an idea. Hizuki went over to some cacti, which were quick to menacingly show their angry hollow eyes while their mouths also looked angry, The orange-eyed wizard merely gave them a happy smile while rubbing them with her hands that were infused with jungle green Plant Magic, and Hizuki watched the magic cacti begin to happily smile. They gave her looks of joy like dogs who enjoyed being petted, and the cacti shot out green leaves from their mouths!

They floated in front of Hizuki for a few seconds, before detonating in dark green blasts that were quite large, and those seven blasts sent Hizuki flying towards the Domus Flau! Takuya was quick with getting on his board and riding the wind, flying towards the finish line at high speeds, and he crossed it at the same moment that Hizuki did. Team Lamia Scale received second place in the event, and they earned eight more points. Now that second place was claimed, the race for third place would certainly intensify. After all, only five people were left.

Erza continued flying to the Domus Flau, seeing the finish line within sight, but Cana used a Speed Boost card on herself to come running behind her while kicking up lots of sand. Cana reached the finish line two seconds before Erza crossed it, and Team Fairy Tail B received six points. Team Fairy Tail A once again got fourth place, receiving four points, and that was actually some payback for how Cana missed out on third place in the ring-tossing competition by mere seconds. Well, she certainly got some redemption now.

It took five more minutes for Ren Akatsuki to get fifth place for Team Blue Pegasus, giving them three points, and Beth crossed the finish line right after him to get two points for Team Mermaid Heel. That made Yeager earn one point by default for Quatro Cerberus, and the judge's bell soon rang to signify that the event was over. Minerva warped back up to her team's booth while Kurami happily went into a hallway to rejoin her teammates, and Team Sabertooth was cheering more while Shinji's team just gave Kurami curious looks for not keeping first place entirely to herself.

Kurami calmly explained while her violet eyes were directed at Shinji and Hyde, "I could've either tied with that strong lady, or we could've foolishly fought while others passed us up."

Shinji told her in a calm manner as he smiled, folding his arms, "Well, you didn't do too bad out there. Congratulations, Kurami."

Kira exclaimed excitedly from Sabertooth's booth, liking the awesome result, "Sabertooth is doing great, and we fight or race with a burning passion! Remember that!"

Erza went back to team Fairy Tail A's booth while feeling pretty bad about how Minerva just humiliated her in a televised event where their bickering was seen by almost everyone in Fiore, and anger was in her brown eyes as she clenched her fists. Some girls in the audience began to yell out how Erza was such an envious loser for treating Lucy so badly, and she would definitely get serious in the situation of fighting her. Not only did Erza have things planned out for that fight, but she narrowed her eyes while deciding that it would be fun to watch Lucy lose.

* * *

 **15 minutes later...**

Since the event for the tournament's fourth day was now complete, the tag-team battles were able to start. The first battle surprisingly made Semmes and Nobarly from Team Quatro Cerberus go up against Takuya and Lyon, but the fact that Hizuki was with Takuya made Lyon feel like he'd only assist if they needed his help. Takuya made a large tornado of mint green winds be near him, before absorbing its power into his fists, and the green-haired male ran towards his opponents. He moved his fists around in circles to show that the rotation could work like this as well to power up the winds, and he knocked out his opponents with several harsh punches to their faces. Lamia Scale now had 50 points, and Quatro Cerberus had 11 points.

* * *

The second match paired Jenny and Hibiki from Team Blue Pegasus up against Risley and Beth from Mermaid Heel, and the match started off with Jenny transforming into her new Battle Form. She used the Sound Magic from before on her hands and feet, before running really fast towards Beth, and Jenny slammed her left palm against Beth's chest! A grey blast occurred while Jenny's attack created a loud wave of sound, and she even punched the air near Risley's right ear to make her feel tremendous pain from the loud vibrations. Since both opponents felt extremely dizzy and off-balance from the sound waves, they were unable to continue. Jenny won the match, and Blue Pegasus now had 28 points. Mermaid Heel would remain with just eight points, unfortunately.

* * *

Hyde and Moka from Team Haina Ganseki went up against Juvia and Cana from Team Fairy Tail B, but Moka chose to fight alone. She did not want Hyde to interfere, unless the situation seemed dire, and Moka shot out four balls of mud at her foes. Two of them struck Cana while knocking her down, and the mud felt sticky like paste. Moka changed the properties of her mud, and she even shot out a beam of mud from her mouth. It quickly hit Juvia while that spell also nullified her magic for an hour, and Moka watched Juvia fall to the ground from that spell making her feel very exhausted. Since neither of Moka's foes could battle her right now, Haina Ganseki won the match. They now had 56 points while Team Fairy Tail B had 49 points, and Moka surprised Hyde by giving him a hug for letting her make up for yesterday's blunder.

* * *

With the third match completed, Lucy narrowed her eyes at Team Fairy Tail A's booth while she could see Erza glaring back at her. This final match-up seemed like it had been set up by fate, as Fairy Tail and Sabertooth would now have their rematch, and this would be a battle of strong guilds. The current champions were going to face off against the guild that was deemed the strongest in Fiore, until last year, and the fact that no one cheered from either booth could tell anyone that some tension was in the air. Who would be fighting, though?

"Well, this is it. The final battle of the fourth day, and it is between the two strongest guilds in Fiore. Sabertooth used to be the best, but Fairy Tail beat them last year. This match seems like it will be intense, folks. Lucy Heartfilia and Kira Blazia versus Erza Scarlet and Mirajane Strauss!" Chapati announced to the audience, sounding tense because of how these guilds were very talented.

Lucy told Kira in a calm tone while smiling, ready to jump from the booth, "Well, let's go give them a great match."

Kira responded as she gave Lucy a confident look, feeling pumped up, "We're going to win this, Lucy!"

Both of the girls went down to the sandy battlefield, and Lucy set her book down for a moment. She took out the pearl pink case from her skirt's right pocket, and Lucy placed the Electric Crystal on the book for a moment to make it become yellow. She put the crystal back in the case, before putting the case back into her skirt, and Lucy picked up the yellow book as she watched her opponents walk to the middle of the battlefield. Kira and Lucy walked up to the center of the battlefield, and all of the spectators wondered who would win this fight.

The gong was struck for the match to start, and Erza made the first move by requipping into her Heaven's Wheel Armor. She held a sword in each hand while focusing her magical power into her legs, and she dashed towards Lucy at high speeds. Erza dropped one sword for the purpose of harshly punching Lucy in the face, sending Lucy crashing against a wall, and the blonde-haired girl fell down to the ground. She didn't seem to move for a few seconds, making some people wonder if Erza was too tough for her to handle, but Kira merely giggled as she felt like Lucy could endure much stronger punches.

Lucy managed to get up while smiling, only having a slight bit of blood on her lower lip, and she opened up the yellow book. She activated the spell called Volt's Ball, and Lucy shot out a yellow ball of electricity from her right hand. Erza blocked the attack with her fist, feeling its power to be pathetic, and she did not even dodge when Lucy fired another one at her. Lucy actually made those projectiles have weakened power, since their effect later on would remain the same, and Lucy merely wanted to just see how Erza would react.

Mirajane used her Satan Soul spell to transform into her demonic form that allowed her to use Darkness Magic, and a purple ball of energy formed in her right hand. She quickly flew towards Kira, only to see the red-haired girl unleash the spell known as Cherished Flame, and Mira had to block Kira's fire with her own attack. The two moves ended up being evenly matched, resulting in a small smokescreen occurring, and it seemed like the four women were finished with checking out each other's basic skills. The battle could go either way, though.

"Are you ready to lose, Lucy?" Erza asked her in a confident manner while picking up her sword, getting ready to strike.

Lucy replied with confidence in her voice, not intending to be defeated, "No way, Erza. Also, don't take it personally if I give you quite a shock."

Kira told Mirajane in a calm tone as she smiled, "Let's get this fight started."

Erza flew up into the air while using the Circle Sword spell, requipping several swords that would simply spin around her in a circle, and she commanded her swords to dance. They began to spin around Erza's body at a rapid pace, and she thrusted her arms forward to make the swords go towards Lucy while they formed the shape of a disc. The swords slightly touched Lucy, before slashing at her from different directions at high speeds, and Lucy fell to her knees while the swords made cuts on her body. She watched them fly back towards Erza, and they stood in front of her like a barrier.

Lucy activated the spell known as Speared Lightning, and this move caused Lucy to shoot out a beam of lightning from her mouth. It had a spearhead while spinning at high speeds, prepared to pierce through whatever it touched, but Lucy's spell unfortunately got stopped by one of Erza's silver swords. The mage from Sabertooth was surprised to see her attack get completely stopped, but lightning was attracted to metal. This really meant that Lucy couldn't use her Lightning Magic against Erza with those swords in the way, so what could she do?

Erza held her two main swords while flying up into the air, before coming down towards Lucy, and the scarlet-haired woman made her slashes form a pentagram. This was the Pentagram Sword attack, which was quite strong, and Erza was moving incredibly fast. Lucy couldn't defend herself right now because of Erza's high speed, and she soon felt Erza deliver six harsh punches to her chest! Lucy was sent rolling across the ground, feeling her body be in pain from taking so much damage, and she watched Kira get punched in the face by Mirajane.

Kira was sent sliding backwards, before being hit by one of Mira's strong kicks, and the merchant was sent flying towards Lucy. The girls crashed into each other, but they stood up while panting. This certainly wasn't going to be an easy fight, but Lucy wondered about what she could do. Her eyes met Erza's fierce glare, making Lucy feel somewhat nervous, but then her brown eyes shifted to the surprising sight of Kyouji and Chisato in the stands. Those two people she earned Rainbow Crystals from in the ancient challenge were now watching her, along with Kenji and everyone else, so how could Lucy let them down?

"Lucy, this is so laughable. You really should just give up. Really, you collected those crystals for nothing." Erza told her in a cocky tone while feeling that this match would easily be won.

Lucy explained to her in a determined tone while starting to feel more confident, her eyes shifting away from how Kyouji and Chisato were now smiling like they wanted to see her strength, "You're wrong, Erza. Collecting the Rainbow Crystals helped me learn many things, and I've met so many different people. Even the deceased ones like Matsurika taught me something, so I can't let them down. In fact, my lightning will break your swords in the blink of an eye."

Kira added while noticing two puddles of mud near Mirajane's feet, looking pretty confident, "Don't forget that I'm here, too!"

Lucy chose to unleash the move called Thunderous Lightning, which caused a yellow aura to surround her body, and steam rose from her wounds while they began to heal. Lucy fired her Speared Lightning spell up at a cloud, watching it quickly turn yellow while it was electrically charged, and the thundercloud sent down a massive amount of electricity towards the Celestial Spirit Wizard! It sent all of its power down into her, and Lucy remembered how this spell made her move at high speeds. The yellow tail shaped like a lightning bolt also appeared while it made a hole in the back of her skirt, but Lucy didn't care.

She swiftly ran towards Erza while looking determined to beat her, watching the brown-eyed foe send seven swords in her direction, and Lucy veered off to her left! Her high speed confounded Erza, and Lucy seemed like she'd hit her! Erza commanded six of her swords to get behind Lucy to literally stab her in the back, but Lucy veered off to her right at rapid speeds! She soon jumped up into the air while being happy that she made Erza break apart her own barrier, and this was her chance to use a powerful move.

Lucy activated the Electric Charge spell, which caused a yellow ball of electricity to spin up and down her tail, and Lucy fired this spell straight down at the first seven swords that Erza used in an attempt to strike her. The blonde-haired girl also fired the Speared Lightning spell at it three times in a row, watching more electricity crackle around her ball, and Lucy would actually be glad that Erza was using metal swords. Electric Charge now had an electromagnetic charge, causing the swords to cling to it like it was a magnet, and they began to crackle with electricity surrounding them!

Lucy ordered the attack to strike Erza, which it promptly did, and a large yellow blast of lightning occurred! Erza screamed in pain while hearing her armor slightly crack, and her swords slightly cracked as well. The smoke cleared up to reveal that Erza was bruised from that attack, and Lucy came down to the ground. She shifted her focus to Mirajane, who was now exchanging punches and kicks with Kira, and Lucy ran towards Mirajane at high speeds! As Erza requipped into her Lightning Empress Armor to make Lucy's lightning attacks be weakened, she was surprised to see Kira leap several feet back.

"Mirajane, look out! Lucy's going to start striking you!" Erza shouted to her in a concerned manner, as she began running over there.

Kira simply stated as she gave Erza a scheming smirk, hoping that Lucy would try to hit Mira, "Enjoy my Hellish Flame Dragon."

Lucy confidently told Mira while dealing an uppercut to her chin, "In the ancient challenge, you should expect something crazy to happen."

Mirajane recovered from that uppercut while seeing Lucy softly jump upward, seeing that she did it at the exact moment Kira shot out three red flames from her left hand, and the white-haired woman watched one of the flames create a fiery explosion that sent Lucy flying upward! The explosion's force sent the flames toward Erza while Kira fired five more flames at her, and those flames were behind the first two flames in a line while they were quite hot. The flames were also quite powerful if they struck in succession, but Erza was quick to requip into her Flame Empress Armor. This armor made Erza only take half of the damage from Kira's flames, not even caring that they made red smoke fill the battlefield, but was that requip ill-timed?

Lucy activated her sixth move that was known as Sporadic Lightning, and it caused Lucy to shoot out a thin lightning beam from her mouth. She aimed it up at the thundercloud from earlier, watching several more thin beams of electricity rain down upon the battlefield, and they created yellow blasts while striking every part of the field! Kira found herself having to evade some of them while Erza was quickly struck by several of the electrically charged attacks, and even Mirajane could not fly up without being sent back down by electrical explosions! That was a pretty dangerous attack, but it made Takuya smile as he watched the battle from Lamia Scale's booth.

He saw the smoke clear up to reveal that Erza took more damage, her skin looking charred from that lightning, and Takuya was glad he wouldn't have to dodge that again. He did understand what happened, however. Lucy attacked Mira for the purpose of getting Erza's attention, and Kira used her flames to propel Lucy upward. That surprising attack under Lucy distracted Erza for a moment, and Kira used her flames as a decoy to force Erza into requipping for the purpose of letting Lucy attack with ease. That strategy was pretty brilliant, and they simply followed each other's moves.

Takuya watched Lucy be down on the field once again while Erza made her other swords disappear, and Sporadic Lightning was still in effect. Lucy raised her fists up high for some of the beams to strike them, making them be charged up with electricity, and Lucy ran towards Erza at high speeds while seeing her requip again. She dealt some electric punches to Erza's chest at a rapid pace, ironically punching hard like someone who would be using Earth Magic, and the wizard from Sabertooth watched her opponent be sent crashing into the wall behind her.

 _"Wow, she's gotten so strong." Mira thought to herself while looking pretty amazed at Lucy's attack._

Erza asked Lucy as she slowly got up, walking through the smoke while her Heaven's Wheel armor completely cracked, "How.. How can you be at this level, Lucy? Against me, shouldn't I have been able to crush you by now?"

Lucy responded as she came down to the ground again, smiling while Sporadic Lightning's effect ceased, "Don't underestimate me, Erza! In fact, you're about to see the type of magic that helped me have more passion like a great artist!"

As Lucy pulled out the pink case from her orange skirt to take out the Requiem Crystal, Erza surprised Kira and Mirajane by requipping into a new armor. This armor was amethyst purple in color while it also featured two purple wings that looked similar to the wings of an angel, and Erza wore amethyst shoulder pads that looked like shields. The purple breastplate revealed a fair amount of Erza's cleavage and belly, but that wasn't as interesting as how the amethyst purple plates on her hips were shaped like feathers. The purple armor also guarded her legs, and her shoes were orchid purple while her hair was now in a long ponytail.

Lucy finished watching the crystal make her book become purple, and she hurriedly put it back into the case. As Lucy put it back into her skirt, she soon saw Erza fly up into the air with a new sword that had an amethyst purple cloud-shaped blade with a violet handle to match. Erza quickly slashed down at the air, sending purple blobs down to the battlefield, and Lucy wasted no time with stepping back to dodge them. She looked at the blobs to see them form puddles while they bubbled with heat, giving off a toxic odor, and this was Erza's Toxic Ninja Armor.

Those puddles were filled with poisonous goop, and touching any of that would cause Lucy or Kira to become poisoned. Erza came down from the sky at high speeds to try striking Kira now, preparing to slash at her, and Kira merely used her Cherished Flame spell on Moka's mud puddles from earlier. She watched them boil to a high temperature, before they made two average-sizes holes in the sand, but Kira soon made flames engulf her fists. She could see Erza coming down to strike her, but who would prevail?

Erza's sword slashed through the lower half of Kira's red blouse, slicing the area above her bellybutton, and Kira soon felt wobbly as the poison's toxins quickly entered her body. She began to cough while sweating, due to Erza hitting her with an intense amount of poison, and Mirajane came down to strike Kira with seven powerful punches that were quite harsh. Kira rolled across the ground while Mira walked over to her, and Erza slashed more toxic blobs of poison at Lucy to keep her out of this. Even though Lucy dodged those poisonous attacks, Erza gave her a rude grin while planning to help Mira beat up Lucy's partner.

Erza told Mirajane in a heckling manner while slamming her left foot down on Kira's stomach three times, watching her cough up some blood, "It's such a shame that Kagura got beaten by someone who could go down in one hit. Really, this girl will end up being the hotshot who just got lucky. Rogue was a loser last year, so it would make sense for him to cheer for this pathetic girl."

Mira added while frowning at Kira, before punching her in the face seven times, "She claimed that we'd all lose to her, but it looks like she won't beat us."

Kira responded as she struggled to stand up, panting heavily as her eyes showed sheer anger at Erza, "Repeat what you just said, Erza Scarlet! I want you to try saying that again!"

Lucy watched Kira use the Flaming Lava Burst spell, shooting out five flames at Erza's poison puddles, but the red-haired merchant swallowed the last flame! It soon became lava in her body, being at a high temperature to burn away the toxins, and steam emerged from Kira's body while her wounds began to heal. She watched her lava burn away some of Erza's poison on the field, but she left one puddle behind for Lucy to hopefully utilize. This healing spell was called Lava Renewal, and a red aura surrounded Kira's body.

She charged at Erza quite swiftly while activating Flame Cannon, and Kira punched Erza in the face three times to make her be engulfed in three twisters of fire that fused together! Erza let out a scream of pain from the twisters soon exploding, but she requipped into her Flame Empress Armor to have the damage reduced. Erza's Flame Sword absorbed Kira's flames, but the scarlet-haired mage was quite surprised to see Lucy's eyes widened from looking at the poison. At this point in the battle, what was Lucy going to do?

Lucy activated the Ruinous Hex spell, causing ten purple ghostly hands to come up through the ground, and those feminine hands soon rushed towards Erza. The sword-wielding woman sent a slashing wave of flames at the hands, only to see those flames become purple upon making contact, and Chisato merely smirked as she remembered how those flames from the dark underworld weren't like normal flames. Five of the purple hands that were ablaze soon slammed themselves against Erza, creating five blasts of energy that were quite large, and they managed to break Erza's armor with ease.

Those hands soon melted down into a crater of acid while the five remaining hands went back towards Lucy, and she watched Erza requip back into her Toxic Ninja Armor. Lucy also saw Erza begin to fly up into the air while Kira managed to send Mira up into the air with a strong kick, and Lucy used the spell known as Solemn Flame. She unleashed a large flame from her left hand, before watching it split into several smaller flames, and Lucy ordered all of those flames to go into the holes that Kira recently made. Even though this wasn't an official spell, would Lucy's plan be good?

"I don't want this fight to end in a draw, Erza, so it's time to unveil my new technique!" Lucy stated to her in a confident tone while making the purple book's front cover slightly be dipped into the poison.

Erza asked her in a shocked manner, groaning in frustration as she saw Lucy go around the poison puddle to walk towards the holes, "Your what? All this time, you've just been waiting to unleash that?"

Kira thought to herself as she looked impressed, before using Hino's Flame Charge, _"Lucy, you're certainly good at timing your tricks quite well."_

Lucy canceled the Darkness Hex spell to make the ghostly hands disappear, and she surprisingly used Dark Reisu. That was her weakest spell of Darkness Magic, and Lucy fired it from her mouth. It was surprisingly directed at the crater of acid, and a miniature explosion occurred! Lucy watched a violet ball of acid soon rise up from the crater, before it headed up towards Erza, and five flames jumped on the acidic attack to increase its properties of Darkness Magic! Acid was something that seemed poisonous, but making Darkness Magic be the dominant type meant that Erza couldn't really resist this attack.

The attack collided with Erza to create a large explosion that was violet, and she was sent falling down to the ground. At the same time, Kira fired five large fireballs from her mouth while she purposely spun up slowly towards Mira. The white-haired girl was struck by Kira's five fast attacks, allowing her speed to be massively boosted from the effects of Hino's Flame Charge, but Kira followed up with a move known as Lava's Burning Karma. This was another move that she hoped to use against Lucy, but Kira wouldn't mind showing it off.

She fired five flames into the air while the puddles of red lava from earlier sprang up to get into the red flames, The flames now contained more heat, and Kira was pretty glad to add Cherished Flame into the mix. Her red flames were now large with intense heat, just as intense as when she fought Kagura, and Kira loudly slammed her hands together to make her flames simultaneously slam against Mira! The oldest Strauss sibling couldn't react fast enough, due to Hino's Flame Charge also increasing the speed of these flames, and a massive explosion of fire occurred in midair! Mira screamed in tremendous pain while her skin became charred, her body burning from the flames, and she fell down to the ground. Her Satan Soul became undone, and Mira couldn't even move from taking so much damage.

Kira watched Lucy use her new technique once again to strike Erza, only causing her to slide back while she refused to give up, and the red-haired merchant unleashed the Flaming Lava Burst spell to make six large flames head towards Erza. She did this at the same moment that Lucy simply used Dark Reisu, and Kira's red flames began to merge with Lucy's purple ball! The Dark Reisu bubbled with intense heat while six purple flames now surrounded it, and some of Lucy's own purple flames sprang forward to get absorbed by the attack while it began to alternate between the colors of purple and red.

Natsu and Sting exclaimed at the same time, looking pretty shocked, "Whoa, that's a Unison Raid!"

Erza shouted with a look of fear on her face, sensing the attack's power, "No way! Lucy and Kira shouldn't have been this strong!"

Lucy responded fiercely while running towards Erza, ready to give her one final hit, "Erza, this is payback for betraying me and it's payback for yesterday!"

The attack harshly struck Erza directly, creating a massive blast that was violet before it became red, and the force of the massive blast also sent Lucy flying high! Erza screamed in agonizing pain while the blast broke some pieces of the ground apart, and her Toxic Ninja Armor soon broke apart while she got propelled into the air. Erza did a desperate requip into her Clear Heart Clothing with the bandages on her breasts and red pants to match, but she was too late. Lucy created a Dark Reisu in her right hand, before eating the attack, and she applied the dark magic to her left foot while being high above Erza. Lucy delivered a slamming kick to Erza's head while a purple aura engulfed her leg, and the mage nicknamed Titania was sent falling down to an intact part of the battlefield.

The dust quickly settled to show that Erza hit the ground quite hard, feeling immense pain from all the damage she took, and she struggled to stand up while seeing Lucy come down to be a few feet away from her. That explosive spell was called Darkness Reisu Flame Barrage, as Lucy planned to keep using it without Kira's flames in the mix, and Lucy glared at Erza. Both of the girls panted heavily while feeling tired, but Lucy tried her best to stand up. She looked at Erza, who was badly bruised and bloodied, but the woman from Fairy Tail fell forward to be at Lucy's feet while she passed out.

The pieces of the ground fell down to the sand, landing around Kira, and the audience was silent from seeing this intense battle. It had been amazing for Kenji and Kyouji to see Lucy take Darkness Magic to that level, and Hikari stood next to Akina in Voltage Town while liking how Lucy used that lightning. Everyone watched the battlefield have purple and red flames on it while Erza's puddle of poison disappeared, and some people were too shocked to even eat. Lucy and Kira hoped that Fairy Tail's mages wouldn't start booing them, but the response was surprising.

Natsu and Lisanna were the first people to clap for Lucy, followed by Gray, and everyone else in Fairy Tail applauded Sabertooth for the victory. The members of Sabertooth clapped for their teammates, and Sting happily cheered Lucy's name while liking how that was a splendid battle. Everyone from the other guilds began to cheer as well. The audience joined them in giving the applause to Lucy and Kira, cheering for Sabertooth, and even Chisato gave Lucy some respect. Kyouji was quite proud of her, and the judges were thrilled from that battle as well.

Kenji announced with a happy smile on his face while Chapati was trying to find words for that battle, "What a fierce combo of Darkness Magic and Fire Magic, but that Lightning Magic zapped with ferocity as well! Really, what good teamwork between partners! Lucy and Kira win for Sabertooth!"

Lucy said with an amazed smile on her face at the sight of Erza being defeated, "Wow.. I really beat Erza. This is amazing."

Kira exclaimed loudly while feeling glad about that win, waving to the audience, "My name is Kira Blazia! Remember it!"

As the audience cheered Kira's name and the girls ran to the hallway to meet up with their teammates, Natsu and the members of his team went on to the field to get Erza and Mirajane. Natsu may have been disappointed by the loss, but he softly smiled as he thought that Erza had nothing to be ashamed of. Lucy was a pretty strong wizard, and she gave Erza a good fight. Team Fairy Tail A had 42 points while Team Sabertooth now had 80, but Natsu was still psyched up from seeing that awesome Unison Raid used by Lucy and Kira.

* * *

 **One hour later...**

Sting and Lucy were getting hot dogs with Kira and Rogue as a nice double date to celebrate their epic win, and the protagonists were even happy to see Takuya skate by them while Hizuki gave out the thumbs-up gesture with him. Sting gave Lucy a happy kiss on the lips while being happy that she settled her conflict with Erza, glad that it was finally over, and Lucy kissed back while blushing. She planned on celebrating more with a nice trip to the clothing store in Crocus, wanting to get Sting a free hat, and Lucy would just giggle if her boyfriend picked out a hat that had Sabertooth's insignia on it.

Kira and Rogue wondered about what they could do on the third day of their relationship, and Kira merely ate her hot dog pretty quickly while Rogue gave her a calm smile. He actually heard her stand up for him against Erza, who had gotten a bit too mouthy in that moment, and Kira's fiery love for Rogue was quite romantic. Even Minerva could see that Kira wanted to fight hard for the guy she loved, and she simply gave Kira her purple wallet as a reward. Rogue blushed pink from seeing Kira happily smile at him, but Frosch would make the situation cuter.

"Kira-san, were you fighting for Rogue when you were angry?" Frosch asked as he looked carefree while standing on Rogue's left shoulder.

The hazel-eyed girl nicely replied to Frosch while her cheeks blushed pink, "Well, I wasn't going to let Erza talk bad about my boyfriend in front of me."

Lucy replied after Sting broke their kiss, seeming really happy, "We're a really good team, and Sabertooth will keep winning. In fact, the fifth day will be fun."

Kira curiously asked Lucy about her thoughts on what the fifth day's events and battles would be like, but the Celestial Spirit Wizard kindly told her that the fifth day was something that involved all five members. It would not follow the routine of the past four days, and Erza had told Lucy last year that the fifth day was where people fought around Crocus in several battles. The Grand Magic Games did have a habit of changing up the fifth day's event each year, however, so it wouldn't be good to just assume that things would be the same as last year.

Lucy felt like the fifth day of the tournament would be interesting, as all of the guilds would be fighting very hard to get first place, and she wondered if Mavis would put together a strategy for Fairy Tail to win. That would definitely be an issue for Sabertooth, but Lucy could help her team come up with some ideas. Just like she proved to her opponents in the past, Lucy showed her old guild that she was pretty unpredictable. Kira was just as unorthodox, using lava to make Lucy's dark magic boil, and this team would be pretty intelligent.

Kira decided to grab Rogue's right hand with her left hand, and she decided to take him to the museum of modern art that they saw on the day of the preliminaries. She informed him that she really wanted to see an exhibit of hot dogs forming a square, and Sting actually made that yesterday with Lector. Kira had heard some people talk about it, so she wanted to see if it looked nice. Rogue would enjoy being with her, but the shadow dragon slayer comically became shocked from hearing Kira tell him how people were inspired by that.

Lucy and Sting felt like following them, but the two mages soon saw Natsu run up to them while Happy flew by his side. The fire dragon slayer may not have been really glad to see Sting's arms around Lucy's waist, but he would be mature enough to congratulate Lucy. Natsu himself had not been capable of beating Erza, so it felt pretty cool to see Lucy do it. He merely smiled at Lucy while thinking about how to express his words, and the pink-haired male looked at her as he began to gently rub the back of his head. Sting and Lucy simply blinked their eyes at him, and wondered what he wanted.

"Lucy, your fight was so cool! It was really awesome to see you beat Erza, and I heard everything she said on the field. I think Erza deserved that beating, and you were taught well by Takuya and the other people who gave you those crystals." Natsu told her in a pleased tone of voice as he smiled.

Lucy responded nicely as she cheerfully smiled, "Thanks, Natsu! Yeah, it was pretty tough for me and Sting to get all of them. I still wonder if they're part of something bigger, though."

Happy told Lucy in an amazed manner, seeing the book in her right hand pulsate in the color of amethyst purple, "Lucy, your book is acting weird."

His amazement made Lucy look down at the purple book that was pulsating, and she soon saw a bit of poison on it. Maybe the book was reacting to the poison, just like how the book in its blue color got affected by the ice, but Lucy probably didn't see her magic evolve today because the spells didn't charge up enough. If she had actually put something like Dark Reisu into Erza's poison puddle, then something might've stemmed from that. The pulsating color meant that new spells were being written, but they could not be activated yet.

The violet Requiem Crystal did represent Darkness Magic and Poison Magic, both of them being able to cause deaths that would be followed by solemn funerals, and Lucy began to flip through the pages in Darkness Magic's section as she wondered how strange this book could get. This was now the second type of magic to have an evolved stage, and only five types remained. Lucy did wonder why nothing happened with her Lightning Magic, though, and that had actually been a result of her spells not being charged up to the sufficient level for evolution.

Lightning Magic came from a crystal with only one element tied to it, so Lucy would have to just wait for someone to juice up her electric attacks. She felt like accelerating that process by using Volt's Ball, but that move would actually fail if Lucy changed her type of magic during a fight. Plus, the Volt's Ball didn't actually have enough juice for Lucy to earn a significant power-up with Lightning Magic. She would simply have to just wait for that to happen, even if it would end up taking several days or several weeks to occur.

Since there was nothing left to say, Natsu ran past Lucy and Sting while Happy followed him. Sting looked at his girlfriend with a happy facial expression while telling her that the mysteries of the book would be solved, and he also assured her that Sabertooth would win tomorrow. Lucy gave him a confident grin while resting her head on his shoulder, really glad that Sting was going to keep rooting for her, and she hoped that day five's event would not be anything too insane. As Lucy soon held Sting's right hand with her left hand to run and catch up with Kira and Rogue, Samantha merely watched her from the window of a coffee shop while she faintly smiled.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 37? Lucy finally faced Erza, and she won! Sorry if Erza's apology didn't occur in this chapter, but it will happen soon during something nice. I chose to not show off Mira more, just to give Erza the main spotlight for Fairy Tail's side. Also, Lucy's types of magic will evolve one at a time. Anyway, the fifth day will be pretty cool with some new rules! I'm so excited! :)**


	38. Chapter 38

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Grand Magic Games, Day 5: Keys To Victory**

* * *

The five members of Team Sabertooth were walking to a coffee shop on this calm morning, smiling about how they were doing quite well in the Grand Magic Games, and this was the last day for the eight participating guilds to earn points. The team that had the most points at the end of today's event would make their guild be the best one in Fiore, and they would also earn a golden trophy that came with a great amount of cash. There was certainly pressure today for some of the guilds, but Sabertooth would not let pressure get to them.

In fact, the team spent their first twenty minutes outside with signing autographs for some fans. Lucy even gave autographs to little girls who tried to dress like her, even cutely holding little books, and Kira found herself signing her name on people's weapons. One guy even thought that a small sword signed by a powerful wizard like Kira could be sold for a good amount of money, and the fire-wielding girl even got to sign her name on a coffee shop. Even though the team members liked fame and signing autographs, Minerva was quick to warp away the fans for the purpose of not being incredibly late for today's announcements.

Minerva really wanted to make Sabertooth end up going home with the ultimate victory, desiring full recognition for the prestigious guild, and she felt quite proud of this year's team. Even though Lucy and Kira went through the hard fights, Minerva was quite proud of herself for not losing yesterday's race against Kurami. Getting a draw with someone from the second-place team did seem like something that could backfire, but getting ten points for Sabertooth was better than getting eight points. Minerva walked down the street with her team while the coffee shop was several feet away, but she wouldn't only be smiling about winning that race.

Her green eyes were filled with satisfaction from recalling how Lucy defeated Erza in yesterday's battle, quite glad that Lucy got herself some serious payback for how Erza treated her pretty badly, and Minerva was also glad to hear some nearby spectators talk about how Erza Scarlet lost their respect. The way Erza treated Lucy and Kira in the fight certainly did make some people have a bad perception of Fairy Tail, and Minerva smirked proudly at how she boosted up Erza's anger before the battle portion of yesterday. That anger and arrogance caused her to now be hated, and she fell right into Minerva's trap of damaging her reputation.

"Lucy, you and Kira did so well in that battle against Erza and Mira. If the conflict isn't over, we could try to crush Fairy Tail's teams further into the ground." Minerva nicely told Lucy with a smile on her face while being on the left side of the Celestial Spirit Wizard.

Lucy responded while smiling softly, not accepting Minerva's suggestion, "We already handled that immense matter in yesterday's intense battle, so we don't need to be intense against anyone from Fairy Tail. Besides, we should probably keep Shinji's team from beating us."

Kira asked Minerva in a playful tone, slightly giggling as she was on Lucy's right side, "Crush them into the ground? Who invited the rock-crushing mages of Haina Ganseki to join us for coffee, Minerva?"

Minerva merely looked irked at Kira for making that remark, but she shrugged it off while thinking that Lucy could have a point. The mages from Haina Ganseki were in second place, and one of their members hadn't even participated in anything yet. The abilities of the other four mages were seen, but Minerva still felt like they were quite vague. It was true that Moka could change the properties of her mud, but only seeing a few of her attacks wasn't the same as seeing everything she could do. As for Shinji, Minerva hoped to see more of his skills.

The person who she felt was pretty threatening to Sabertooth actually had to be Hyde Chiri, the wizard who mainly used rocks in his Earth Magic, and Minerva frowned slightly as she recalled how his dense rocks played a role in Kira beating Kagura. The fact that Hyde made most of the sand dense on that day also played a role in Kira's fiery fight against her opponent, and someone who seemed like a good supporting mage could prove to be a nuisance. Hyde did appear to be cocky, but he certainly had some good skills to justify acting that way.

Kurami also appeared to be a worrisome foe for Minerva, since she could use clay in clever ways, but the fact that they tied in a race was not really the same as getting a draw in a battle. If today's event was like last year's survival tournament, Minerva would certainly try to find her first. That young girl may have only used clay, but she could run extremely fast with Earth Magic applied her feet. That speed could allow her to quickly take out multiple opponents, so Minerva felt like she needed to take her down before Haina Ganseki could get incredible momentum.

As Minerva and her teammates walked to where they were now only a few feet away from the coffee shop, the five wizards were soon surprised to see Samantha and Kenji exit the coffee shop. Both of those wizards smiled while they were happy to once again be guest judges, and Kenji wore his purple dress shirt with orchid purple jeans to match. He wore his signature neon purple shoes, and the purple-haired male turned his head away from Samantha to see that Lucy was with her teammates. The sight of her being here caused his smile, especially since him and Samantha did have the job of giving out today's info.

"Hey, Lucy! It's good to finally run into you! For today's event, Sabertooth has to start near the fountain!" Kenji told her with a calm smile on his face while walking up to her.

Lucy replied nicely, before her eyes widened with curiosity while proceeding to ask a question, "It's great to see you as well, Kenji! I hope Misora is running Mumargi Town smoothly while you're here. Also, what's the event for today?"

Kira exclaimed with a psyched facial expression while running up to the famous fashion designer, much to Minerva's annoyance, "Wow, you're Samantha Kalos! You're so famous for your fashion! I'm Kira Blazia, and it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Samantha giggled sweetly at Kira while saying it was great to run into the fiery Kira Blazia, and she wouldn't forget her name. The woman with grey eyes let Kira know that the other teams were informed about their starting locations earlier, and she actually visited the teams in ascending order of their current rankings. Samantha spoke loudly enough to tell Kira and her friends that the final event was not just a survival tournament, but it would also be a task of earning some keys that would open a treasure chest. Whichever team open their guild's respective chest first would not only win fifty points, but they would possibly win the Grand Magic Games.

Kenji looked somewhat bummed that Samantha stole what he'd say to Lucy, but he did start to smile while telling her that team needed to choose a leader. The leader would be worth 10 points while the others would be worth five points, and the event was timed for at least seven hours. Lucy's eyes looked focused as Kenji told her that opening the chest was good and bad, since a team was prohibited from fighting after opening it, so it would be bad to watch a team come from behind without a bonus and ultimately win. Lucy took note of that great advice, and she ran off towards the fountain with her teammates. Kenji decided to run towards the Domus Flau with Samantha, and they both felt like this event would be very exciting.

* * *

 **30 minutes later, at the fountain...**

Minerva's team stood near the fountain of flowing water, the same one that Natsu fell into with his teammates, and the elegant woman with black hair surprised her teammates by nominating Lucy as the leader. Rufus looked somewhat concerned with that, thinking it would be more of a surprise to have Rogue or himself be the leader, but Minerva gave him a stern look while saying that Erza wouldn't make her team go after someone who she couldn't beat, and she also felt like Fairy Tail's wizards would not be so quick to go after someone like Lucy.

Lucy didn't exactly feel comfortable about that, since Mavis could probably devise a great plan to help Fairy Tail win, but could calculations really matter against unpredictability? Minerva gave Lucy a calm smile while saying she was the right person for the task, and she brought up how Lucy's seven Rainbow Crystals gave her seven sets of abilities. If she were to use a type of magic that no one saw her wield yet, such as Fire Magic, then what could her opponents possibly predict? After all, Lucy did like to surprise her foes.

"What if I end up running into Laxus or Kagura? If they take me down, wouldn't it have been pointless to make me be the leader?" Lucy asked her teammates in a calm manner, hoping this strategy would not fail.

Kira replied with a confident smile on her face, giving Lucy the thumbs-up gesture, "Don't worry, Lucy! Sabertooth won't lose! After all, we're not just fighting for the sake of our guild! We have to do well for everyone who's cheering us on!"

Minerva added with a smile of encouragement, recalling something from the third day, "Lucy, I ran into Clair after your battle against Jenny. She told me to tell you that she's looking forward to a rematch, but she also hopes that you'll continue to have eyes of fierceness."

At that moment, Lucy's eyes widened in amazement. Clair came here, and saw her fight against Jenny? Minami hadn't mentioned anything about the blue-haired woman to Lucy, but hearing that one of her rivals was seriously watching one of her fights made Lucy clench her right fist. She definitely needed to have the thought of victory on her mind, as a tough wizard wouldn't be worried about her opponents, and Lucy remembered how awesome it felt to use that drill of ice against Jenny. She certainly had Clair's strong mentality in that fight, so Lucy couldn't afford to waver.

Even if Lucy would not be using Water Magic today, she would still do her best with making her skills crush anyone. In fact, the thought of showing off Wind Magic entered her mind. It would be really interesting for Clair and Hayato to see that Lucy's skills matured to where her winds could slam down the attacks of her foes, and it would also be nice to utilize wind for some good purposes. In fact, having winds of cleverness with some immense power would probably make the initial strategy devised by Mavis be blown away.

There was the matter of wind being totally useless against Takuya, however, but Lucy would do her best with staying away from him. She didn't feel like fighting him again, but Lucy hoped that the green-haired skateboarder would show off his amazing skills with Wind Magic. That type of magic could not only confound mages from Fairy Tail, but it would probably be troublesome for the wizards from Team Haina Ganseki. Lucy really felt like the team needed to deal with that crazy bunch of mages, and Shinji particularly came to her mind.

Even though it was true that one person from his team did not fight, Lucy still perceived Shinji to be the strongest of the five. He could take on multiple foes with karate, as Lucy saw in the preliminary round, and the look of intensity in her brown eyes made Minerva once again decide that Lucy would be the leader. If the team's goal was to beat Haina Ganseki, then Lucy could be the one to go after Shinji. As the team was also about to decide how they'd split up, a Lacrima Vision appeared in the air for everyone to see it while they also heard Chapati test his microphone.

"Hello, everyone! Welcome to the final event in the Grand Magic Games, and it's known as Treasured Victory! In this event, the competitors must go around town and fight any opponents who they encounter! Every victory will make a guild gain points and a key to their chest! Five keys of the same color will open that guild's treasure chest, but be careful! If your team loses a member, you will lose a key! If you defeat more than five people, then more keys will be gained!" Chapati announced and explained to the spectators and participants, as he looked delighted about these new rules.

Kenji added while looking pleased with this event, smiling as he gave everyone a reminder, "Also, defeating a team's leader gives 10 points to the opposing guild! Defeating anyone else on the team will make the opposing guild get five points!"

Samantha announced to the participants, seeing if they would want to have the desperation of some models in the fashion world, "You may also wager your keys in this event, darlings, but both guilds must wager the same amount. If you really think you're hot stuff and can strut with confidence, then try your luck with wagers."

The competitors were reminded that this event would only last seven hours, so they couldn't afford to battle until nighttime. The Lacrima Vision screen disappeared while the gong was struck for the final event of the Grand Magic Games to begin, and several people from the different guilds began to run from their starting points. Mavis ordered Fairy Tail's teams to run and split up, which they promptly did, and everyone in the Domus Flau was also pretty surprised to also see Takuya go in one direction while Hizuki ran in the opposite direction.

Several people split into teams while other people decided to walk around on their own, and the members of Sabertooth decided to all split up. Rogue went to the area where the castle of Mercurius was located while Kira ran in the direction of the fashion district, and Rufus jumped on to a rooftop that was nearby. Minerva walked away from Lucy with a confident facial expression as she decided to head to the area where Kagura and Erza fought against her last year, but the green-eyed woman wasn't intending to cause any drama.

Lucy looked down at her brown T-shirt that went well with her dark green jeans, and she pulled out the pink case from the right pocket of her pants. The pulsating purple book was down on the ground, and Lucy changed its color by gently dropping the Verdant Crystal on it. She picked up the crystal to put it in the case, before putting the case back into the pocket of her jeans, and Lucy proceeded to pick up the mint green spell book while smiling. She intended on helping her team win this event, and finding some keys was her first priority.

The blonde-haired girl ran towards the street where many shops sold expensive bottles of perfume, but she got to see Nobarly and Yeager be sent crashing through two of the stores. They were struck with powerful kicks that came from Minerva, and both of the men felt immense pain while losing consciousness. Sabertooth quickly gained ten points while two golden keys came down from the air to be in Minerva's hands, and the two guys from Quatro Cerberus were warped to the Domus Flau. Lucy was quite shocked to see what just happened, and she merely walked down the street while hoping that Minerva wouldn't make this event get too crazy.

* * *

 **One hour later, in the library...**

Gray walked into the library for the purpose of getting his first key, and this was the same library where he fought Rufus in last year's tournaments. Books were on the ground while the floor was severely cracked, and the black-haired male widened his eyes in shock from seeing Hyde Chiri sitting on the brown chair. This was not in the plan designed by Mavis, as she thought Rufus would be there, and Hyde was only in the library because he wanted to wait for someone to fight him. He assumed that Gray came here to fight him, and Hyde got up from the chair.

The teenager with cocoa brown hair frowned at Gray, remembering how he was part of Fairy Tail, and Hyde had not forgotten how Laxus quickly beat him in their table. Even though he was in a tag-team battle with Moka, she still managed to get ten points in two situations while Hyde only earned six points. He actually felt miffed at how Moka and Kurami were showing him up, and he also didn't want Shinji's last subordinate to get ten points. If Hyde could not get ten points like his allies did, then it would be embarrassing for the heckler to get heckled by his teammates.

"Well, I didn't expect to see you here." Gray told him in a calm manner while looking stern.

Hyde replied in a confident manner as he stood across from Gray, "Rufus from Sabertooth was here earlier, but he fled from seeing my power. Anyway, I'm gonna have to take you out. Feel better that it's me, and not Shinji."

Gray told him in a confident tone while grinning, thinking ahead, "I'll be sure to tell Rufus that I handled his problem later. Bring it on, Hyde!"

The ice mage started off the battle with Ice-Make: Freeze Lancer to shoot many icy lances from his hands, but Hyde surprised him by making a nearby rock turn into some sand. It rose up to create a dense wall that surprisingly broke Gray's projectiles, and Hyde made two more rocks turn into sand. He made the sand rise up to form two twisters that began to spin clockwise, and the sand took in some small rocks while changing to a mocha brown color. The twisters headed towards Gray at high speeds, and orange blasts occurred!

Gray screamed in pain from that attack while he was sent flying up into the air, and Hyde went over to three chunks of the floor. He threw them up into the air while making an orange aura of Earth Magic surround them, and they soon split into somewhat smaller stones. Hyde raised his index finger upward to make the stones go up towards Gray while they formed a circle, and touching one slightly caused ten large blasts of earthy energy to occur! Gray was sent falling to the ground with a hard slam, and Hyde chuckled from seeing his foe stand up.

Gray felt determined to win, and he quickly ran towards Hyde while using his Ice-Make Magic to have many ice shards engulf his fists. The mage from Fairy Tail jumped over some chunks of earth that Hyde threw towards him, and he dealt five punches to Hyde's body. The teen from Haina Ganseki felt himself be quite cold, seeing his body start to freeze, but he soon smirked from the sight of Gray striking him in the face five times. Gray felt like this match was easily won, but he was about to see why most people at a beach would not like Hyde.

Hyde smirked while building up magical power to make an orange aura surround his body, his skin and clothing turning brown like sand, and the teen soon broke apart while a pile of sand was left in his place. That was a little technique called Sand Decoy, and the real Hyde soon rose up from a pile of sand that was surprisingly upstairs. He had fired sand up at Rufus at earlier, only to see him dodge it before fleeing, but now Hyde could show off a nice trick. In fact, he and Shinji were the only two mages in the guild who could do it. What move was he going to use?

"I was hoping to surprise Shinji with this, but I'll just use it on you!" Hyde stated to Gray in a confident manner while the sand made a dense sphere form in his hands.

Gray replied while running towards the area where Hyde was at, "I'll just freeze that ball of yours, Hyde!"

Hyde responded as he pretended to look klutzy, purposely dropping his attack over the railing, "Well, this should be fascinating."

He moved his index finger up again to make two chunks of earth float up towards the sphere, watching them get absorbed by it while the ball's speed and power began to rapidly increase, and Hyde watched the ball head down towards the floor. Gray gave Hyde a stern look while using Ice-Make: Ice Bringer, planning to freeze the ball and jump up for the opportunity to slash at the brown-eyed male, but seeing Hyde make another chunk of earth strike the ball made Gray feel like something was amiss. He could see the sphere being only ten feet away from him, but Gray had to stop running.

The male with dark blue eyes watched Hyde's attack strike the ground, before creating several spiky waves of sand that lunged at Gray, and every fast attack made an orange blast occur! The blasts were quite large from being powered up by the chunks of earth, and these multiple attacks caused Gray to scream in pain while they all felt like extremely harsh punches to his body. Hyde certainly made this attack be quite dense, but the force of the blasts soon made some bookshelves fall while it rocked the library! Hyde managed to stay on the railing while watching his sandy barrage of spiky attacks slam against Gray, and he was simply glad that this wasn't a personal conflict.

The orange smoke in the library cleared up to reveal that some bookshelves fell over while the library's floor was completely wrecked, and Hyde jumped down to the floor while panting heavily. He touched a large chunk of the broken floor with his left hand, absorbing its density, and Hyde took notice of how Gray was down on the floor. The wizard from Fairy Tail was not conscious, and he wasn't truly prepared for Hyde's techniques. Mavis hadn't thought about how to defeat Haina Ganseki's members, as their abilities were still pretty unknown, and this battle certainly made Fairy Tail have a rocky start.

This battle was featured on Lacrima Vision screens for everyone to see it, and Team Fairy Tail A was surprised to see Gray get warped out of the library. A purple key fell down into Hyde's hands, and its bow looked like a crescent moon while the key's blade resembled five claws. Hyde grinned confidently while running out of the library, glad that this fight was finished, and Haina Ganseki earned five more points. In contrast to his victory, Natsu's win against Semmes from Quatro Cerberus proved to be meaningless as his red key vanished into a puff of smoke right before his eyes.

Natsu exclaimed with an irked facial expression as he stood next to Lisanna, recalling his past blunders in the tournament, "Gray, you idiot! He wanted you to get close! Seriously, that guy battled smoothly like Takuya!"

Lisanna replied to her boyfriend with a concerned look on her face, "That was just as bad for him as the Hidden event last year. Seeing through tricks isn't Gray's specialty."

* * *

 **One hour later, in the fashion district...**

Kira ran down a street in the fashion district while looking pretty confident about getting a key, and this event went on for two hours now. The red-haired merchant had merely been walking around while trying to find someone to fight, but it seemed like no one was interested in fashion trends right now. She let out a sigh while hoping that Rogue was okay, and Kira would certainly help him if he was about to get into a fight. As she felt like the other five hours of this event would be boring, Kira sadly just had to tempt fate.

Her hazel eyes took notice of Kurami coming around the left corner with Haina Ganseki's fifth member, and Kira was surprised to see that he was a tall man who had orange hair styled in a Mohawk. He wore an orange leather jacket that was buttoned up while he wore some black pants, and this guy also wore brown sandals. He wore a spiky black choker while looking stern, and Kira noticed the orange aura around this guy's body while he carried Beth from Mermaid Heel in his left arm. He had knocked her out earlier with a harsh punch, gaining a purple key and five points, but he still needed to absorb her magical power.

"Wow, we just ran into Kira Blazia! This could be our day to finally work together, Sutēki!" Kurami exclaimed in a joyous tone, ready to win while she looked straight ahead at the merchant.

Kira replied with a smile on her face, ready to use some fiery attacks, "I'll gladly battle against you two!"

Sutēki informed her as he seemed uninterested, deciding to step back and watch, "I'm not hungry for a meal right now, so don't bother me."

Kurami started off the match by shooting out a vortex of clay from her mouth, and Kira dodged the light brown attack while noticing how it looked similar to Sting's White Dragon's Roar. The attack made an orange blast transpire where Kira originally stood, and she quickly jumped up into the air. Kurami applied Earth Magic to her feet for the purpose of running quite fast, and she sprang up into the air. She made Earth Magic engulf her right fist while Kira made flames engulf her left fist, and the two girls made their attacks collide. They were evenly matched with their strong punches, and some spectators thought they made an epic fist bump.

Kira slammed her right elbow against Kurami's chest, sending her down to the ground, and the girl who wielded Fire Magic used the spell known as Fiery Belch. She shot out a beam of fire that resembled the Fire Dragon's Roar of Natsu, liking how so much training made this move be stronger than before, but Kurami quickly dodged the powerful attack! It made a fiery explosion occur while flames were left behind, but all of that heat did not stop Kurami from shooting hot clay out of her hands. It struck Kira's legs and her brown boots to give her some harsh burns, and she winced in pain from how Kurami used her attack with excellent timing.

Kira peeled off the hot clay from her legs, before spitting out little balls of lava to make the clay turn red, and she threw them back down at Kurami. The attacks were once again dodged while they created fiery explosions, and Kira merely used a basic spell that could give properties of Fire Magic to any attack. The attack created some small craters in the ground, and Kira went down from the air while making flames heal her legs. This fight was certainly interesting, mainly because of how both girls were trying to match each other's moves, but what would happen next?

Kurami shot out a large piece of clay from her mouth, watching it explode to make chunks of the ground rise up, but she soon looked surprised at the sight of Kira making those chunks of earth be red-hot with the Cherished Flame spell. They soon came back down to make several fiery blasts occur, some of them even burning Kurami, and Kira shared her curiosity about why Sutēki was just standing several feet away from the fight. Kurami's skin was charred while she took lots of damage, feeling the heat of those blasts, and she felt like Sutēki needed to be scolded.

"If I lose this fight, Sutēki, then I'll tell Shinji that you were just watching it happen! Follow the rules, and help me fight! Don't have that disobedient attitude at a time like this!" Kurami told him in a stern tone while sweating and looking irked, not wanting to fail against Kira.

Sutēki asked and replied to her in a bored manner, narrowing his orange eyes, "Since when can you threaten me, Kurami? If Shinji gets mad at me, he and I can just express our views with a good fight in the Haina Desert. Also, I told you that I'd only fight when I'm hungry for energy. Furthermore, we agreed to fight two-on-two battles. It's always wise to keep a situation fair, so that's what I'll do. This is a duel between you two, and I won't get into it."

Kira told him in a pleased manner while smiling, "Wow, thanks for letting me and Kurami fight."

Kurami embarrassingly told her to ignore his honorable demeanor, stating how Sutēki always wanted to fight alone like a man, and she shifted her focus back to their battle. Kurami surprised Kira by shooting out a larger beam of clay up at the sky, and it soon broke apart to become clay bombs! They fell down to the ground at rapid speeds while steam emerged from the projectiles, signaling that they were hot, and Kurami watched Kira get struck by some of the attacks that created orange blasts! They made cracks appear in the ground while other chunks of earth were broken apart, but would Kurami win?

The smoke cleared up to reveal that Kira was somewhat wounded from that powerful attack, blood dripping from her arms that had bruises on them, and Kurami was surprised that Kira could endure the tough power of an earth-wielding mage. Kira grabbed some of the red flames that were on the street while deciding to make them engulf her fists, and she also put her mouth against some of the flames to inhale them. A red aura surrounded Kira's body, and she began to confidently smile while running towards Kurami.

Kira struck her with a fast barrage of seven fiery punches, before stretching her left arm backwards, and Kira struck her foe with a powerful punch that made a fireball engulf her! Kurami screamed in pain from feeling the blazing punch send her into the air, before the fire formed a ball around her, and the fiery attack exploded in midair while Kurami was sent flying out of Crocus! Kira was the winner of that fight, and she happily giggled while a gold key fell down into her left hand. The purple key in Sutēki's right hand soon vanished in a puff of smoke, and he merely gave Kira a stern look while taking a few steps forward.

The girl from Sabertooth ran down that street with determination in her eyes, wanting to join up with Rogue soon, but Kira was stopped by Sutēki dropping Beth to the ground. As she was warped to the arena, Kira and Sutēki glared at each other. Kira panted a bit while feeling like she mistakenly used more strong moves than necessary against Kurami, and she did not want to fight the orange-haired girl's partner right now. Kira already gained five more points for Team Sabertooth, and she really didn't want to get greedy. She kept locking eyes with Sutēki, hoping this wouldn't be a fight, but he actually surprised her by closing his eyes and stepping out of her way.

"Even though you and Kurami didn't go all-out against each other, that was a fairly decent battle to watch. You won, so go ahead. Just realize that Shinji's Earth Magic is denser than hers." Sutēki told Kira in a calm manner as he smiled softly, before proceeding to walk in the opposite direction.

Kira responded kindly as she began to run, waving goodbye with her right hand, "Thanks! I'll keep that in mind!"

* * *

 **One hour later, near a canal...**

Most of the people in this event spent their time with running away, trying to just kill time while hoping their opponents would get tired, but Jenny recently defeated Milliana and Erza. She gained 15 points, since Erza was the leader of Team Fairy Tail A while Milliana was not the leader of Team Mermaid Heel, and Jenny's Sound Magic had been quite devastating to hear. She had been at the canal two hours earlier to make her sound holes take in some water, and having those sound waves amplified even made her defeat Bacchus from Quatro Cerberus with some powerful blasts while Rocker was also defeated in that same battle. Jenny gained thirty points for Blue Pegasus today, but nothing exciting happened after those impressive feats.

Wendy and Lyon were having their rematch three streets away from the canal, fighting for at least thirty minutes now, but the current situation at the canal surprised everyone. Takuya was now going to fight Cana and Juvia by himself with no concern about how they were from Fairy Tail, and both of the women seemed pretty ready to fight him. Juvia felt as if this win would avenge Gray's loss, and Cana simply wanted the points. Takuya got on his skateboard while snickering in a confident mood, and he would enjoy battling the lovely ladies.

Cana started off the fight by using a Speed Boost card on herself to immediately get behind Takuya, not wanting him to create any combo techniques with Hizuki, and she kicked the skateboard out from underneath his feet. It was sent rolling a few feet away, and Cana decided to punch Takuya with both of her fists. He managed to grab her fists, however, and the two wizards pushed against each other while it seemed like Juvia would have a clear shot. She definitely planned to hit Takuya with the Water Slicer attack, and then she would try to strike Hizuki.

Takuya and Hizuki greatly battled as a pair, only separating in this event, so it was logical for the girls to assume they were together. Cana attempted to headbutt Takuya, only to hear a certain man with blond hair chuckle as he walked up to the situation, and everyone was surprised to see him there. Takuya and Cana immediately recognized Rufus, seeing his smile as he eyed them, and the two mages wondered what he would do. Rufus could use Memory-Make Magic, which was quite powerful, but what would he say?

"Well, I may just get ten points easily. After all, it would be good for Fairy Tail to see some new memories of mine." Rufus told Cana and Juvia in a calm tone, completely ignoring Takuya.

Cana asked Rufus in a confused manner, before her violet eyes shifted to her initial foe from Lamia Scale, "Aren't you going to go after this guy who uses winds cleverly and likes to flirt with the girls?"

Takuya told Cana and Juvia in a calm tone while smiling, "Even if you beat me, you still get nothing. Hizuki and I got listed as one unit, so you have to beat both of us to get the points. Let's just fight, and Rufus can face the-"

He was cut off by Rufus using Memory-Make: Lightning's Electric Karma, and this magic combined Kira's powerful spell with the Lightning Dragon Slayer Magic of Laxus. Five large yellow flames appeared around Juvia while they formed a pentagon, crackling with lots of electricity, and all of the flames hastily slammed against the blue-haired woman! She screamed in agonizing pain from the high level of the electricity, feeling it also leave severe burns on her body, and the yellow blast of electricity was quite massive! It blinded the eyes of Cana and Takuya, who were both surprised to see what Rufus did, and some yellow clouds of smoke were on the other side of the canal.

The smoke cleared up to reveal that Juvia was knocked out while electricity crackled around her body, and Rufus was quite glad to have memorized that Laxus beat Hyde on the second day. The masked man turned his attention to Cana, who sent Takuya sliding several feet away from her with a punch to his chest, and the brown-haired woman threw some fireball cards toward Rufus! He quickly dodged them, however, and Rufus would not waste his time memorizing them. However, he did not forget what Hizuki and Lucy had shown him in their fights. In fact, he hoped to tr out this move.

Rufus put his fingers near his temples while remembering Hizuki's Plant Magic, along with Lucy's spell known as Hydro Drill, and he even amazed Takuya by making green leaves appear right in front of him. They took on the shape of drills while water rose up from the canal to be absorbed by them, and that blue water caused the green drills to become turquoise! This was called Turquoise Requiem of the Aqua Forest, and Rufus sent the four drills towards Cana! They moved at high speeds like Lucy's drills, and the turquoise blast that occurred ended up destroying the building behind her!

Cana yelled out in pain while feeling the attack harshly hit her with its tremendous energy, and she soon fell forward while the falling part of the building landed on her! Rufus hoped that Cana was not dead, as he did see a bit of blood spread from underneath the rubble, but he was relieved to hear her suddenly groan in pain. The area around the canal was silent for at least ten seconds, before Cana and Juvia were both warped out of the city to signify that they were eliminated from the event, and Rufus earned ten more points while two golden keys appeared in his left hand.

"Well, that was easy." Rufus said to himself while smiling proudly, as he began to walk away.

Takuya told him while looking pretty annoyed, ironically referencing what he used to do in Kazehana Town, "You stole those points from me, man! You're such a thief, and I'll make you pay for that!"

Rufus replied confidently as he adjusted his hat, "I'd be happy to spar with you, then. I'll even fight you and Hizuki together later, if that's more satisfying."

Takuya felt like that could be good, but the Lacrima Vision screen in the air gave him a better idea. Sabertooth now had 105 points while Lamia Scale was at 60 points because of how Toby took out Ichiya, so why not use one guild's possible victory to another guild's advantage? After all, people who liked the Lamia Scale guild did hear about the cafe that Takuya ran with Hizuki. There were even girls who wanted Takuya to help them learn some awesome wind attacks, and that publicity could make the cafe afford to have more customers.

He calmly asked Rufus if Sabertooth would be willing to send some jobs to Kazehana Town's cafe if their guild won the Grand Magic Games, and Takuya had enough money to give the cafe its own request board. Rufus chuckled while telling Takuya that it wouldn't be fair to help out a guild that lost, but Takuya did inform him that Kazehana was the fourth location in the ancient challenge. If Sabertooth sent jobs there while also having a wizard who won a crystal from that town, then it would be a fair publicity for both sides. Rufus merely sighed at that logic while choosing to nod in agreement, and he folded his arms while Takuya grinned for the Lacrima Vision screen. He may not have won a battle, but the girls were loving how he cleverly used his intellect for that negotiation.

* * *

 **Elsewhere, near some flower shops...**

Lucy was now walking down a street where flower shops were located, seeing several flowers arranged neatly in the windows of those stores, and the blonde-haired girl heard about how her friends obtained victories in their fights. She was pretty surprised to witness Rufus using his Memory-Make Magic in such crazy ways, and he only beat Juvia and Cana swiftly to have more energy be saved for dealing with Lamia Scale's duo from Kazehana. Both of the boys were just standing by the canal, waiting for Hizuki to show up, and Lucy's eyes twitched in a shocked manner as she kept walking.

As Lucy kept walking, she didn't really care about the attention shifted to Natsu and Gajeel knocking each other out with fierce punches. Rogue had been close to that area, but the two rivals from Fairy Tail were focused on each other for about 35 minutes. Both of their teams gained five points, due to the double knockout been seen as a win on both sides, and the sight of more people getting points made Lucy wonder when she'd get to fight someone. Even if it was just for a moment, the thrill of battle would be a relief from three hours of walking around with the feeling of boredom.

"Seriously, who is nearby?" Lucy asked aloud while looking straight ahead, before starting to run down the street.

A familiar voice replied in a serious tone, speaking from a rooftop that was close by, "Well, I'm here! I hoped to run into you with Takuya, but splitting up to get more points wasn't entirely a good idea."

Lucy responded with a confident smile on her face, as her eyes shifted up to see the person jump down to the ground, "Well, we'd have to fight again someday."

She was speaking to Hizuki, who landed in front of her, and both of the girls wanted to relieve their boredom on this street. Neither Hizuki or Lucy ran into anyone, which left them to fight each other, and Hizuki started off the match by using her Plant Magic to make four dark green leaves float around her body. She made three of the leaves head towards Lucy, who wasted no time with stepping back, and the leaves made dark green blasts transpire when they hit the ground! The winds pushed Lucy several feet away from Hizuki, but she remained confident while opening up the book.

Lucy unleashed the spell called Zephyr's Breath, and she fired a mint green beam of energy from her mouth! It spiraled quite fast while the large amount of wind powered it up, and Hizuki was struck by Lucy's attack! The spectators watched the mint green blast occur while its force shattered some glass windows, and the winds made flowers be blown from the stores. The smoke quickly cleared up to reveal that Hizuki was somewhat bruised, but she felt pretty glad that Lucy could fight at this high level of strength. If she wasn't being serious, it would feel disappointing to Hizuki.

The girl with jungle green hair shot out a dark green ball from her left hand, and Hizuki also threw flowers at it. The attack soon doubled in speed from taking in the Plant Magic that was used to make the flowers, and it struck Lucy directly! She was engulfed in the dark green blast while feeling its energy, and Lucy was propelled into the air. She used the spell called Windy Punch to make mint green winds surround her hands, and Lucy acted like she was throwing punches down at Hizuki. She inhaled air while punching to boost her power, too.

Hizuki was soon struck by the winds that felt like a barrage of dense punches to her body, and she fell to her knees while groaning. She wouldn't give up, however, and Hizuki picked up some flowers. She removed some of the petals, before making her Plant Magic melt those petals down into green goop, and Hizuki's skills definitely improved since the first time she met Lucy. The Celestial Spirit Wizard came down to the ground while Hizuki fired her goop straight up at the sun in the form of many bullets, and this fight was interesting.

"Even without Takuya by your side, Hizuki, you're pretty strong." Lucy kindly told her opponent while preparing to dodge her attack.

Hizuki replied confidently as her orange eyes had a scheming look in them, "Even when Sting's not fighting, you're strong as well. In fact, let's see how this next round will go."

The girl from Lamia Scale watched her green projectiles fall from the sky, but Lucy countered that with her spell called Windy Twister. It made a twister appear on the street, before splitting itself into four smaller twisters, and Lucy moved the index finger of her left hand in a circle to make the twisters spin in that same manner. The winds were not fully charged up to take on all of Hizuki's projectiles, but they were strong enough to make some of them land at least fifteen centimeters away from where they were initially supposed to land.

The wind surrounded Hizuki's projectiles, however, and Lucy was struck by the fast attacks! Hizuki also ended up being hit by some of the projectiles that were shifted by the winds, and both girls endured the dark green explosions. They groaned in pain while getting up, seeing this as the third time their spells were evenly matched, and Lucy's tornadoes also exploded. The noise was loud enough to get the attention of the remaining mages, even the ones who were on the other side of Crocus, and both girls were ready to use their fourth spells.

Lucy used the spell known as Zephyr's Windy Rage, and she shot out a mint green ball from her right hand. She exhaled some air four times towards the attack, causing four miniature tornadoes to surround the attack, and Lucy watched it go towards Hizuki. Based on how this attack's collision with one of Clair's strongest spells once made an icy cave be obliterated, Lucy hoped that she would not be using enough power to where it would kill Hizuki. After all, a team's win would be null and void if the opponent was killed.

At the same time, Hizuki activated a spell called Rose's Petal Dance. It caused several rose petals of different colors to detach themselves from the nearby roses, before they floated in front of Hizuki, and her Plant Magic made them become dark green. They took the form of a medium-sized vortex, and the petals rapidly went towards Lucy's attack. The two girls hoped that their attacks would not collide, as they wanted to see who would win, and fate was on their side. Lucy's spell barely touched Hizuki's attack while the two moves went past each other, but who would be victorious?

Kenji exclaimed with a shocked facial expression while the Lacrima Vision screens were now focused on this battle, "Wow, they might end up fatally injuring each other!"

Samantha replied nicely as she sat next to him in the judges' booth, not thinking they'd die, "They're probably not serious enough to desire disqualification."

Lucy and Hizuki were struck by each other's attacks at the exact same moment, a massive dark green blast and a massive mint green blast respectively engulfing them, and some of the green petals ended up touching the mint green spell book! The green clouds of smoke filled the area, making everyone wonder who won, and all the Lacrima Vision screens were focused on this street with flower shops. The smoke was soon blown away by Takuya, who appeared in the air with his mint green skateboard, and his mint green tornado effectively cleared up the scene.

Hizuki and Lucy struggled to stand up while being pretty bruised up, once again having their moves be equally strong, but both girls fell to their knees as they panted heavily. Takuya wished that he could've seen the entire battle, even though it was short, and he could tell that both of the girls were not holding back. They just wanted to have some fun, and the fight had lasted for at least ten minutes. Takuya decided to just sit down on a rooftop while seeing the girls start to smile at each other, and this match could be seen as a draw. Even though neither side officially gained points, Lucy and Hizuki still had fun.

Speaking of points, however, Takuya's eyes soon caught sight of Shinji being on an adjacent street. He slammed his hand together to make two large rocks slam into Arania and Risley, creating a large blast that was orange, and the girls let out screams of agony. They soon fell to be at Shinji's feet, making him earn ten points for Haina Ganseki, and Shinji gained two purple keys. Two of Kagura's pink keys disappeared from her left hand, and only one was left. She was glad to have easily beaten the Trimens of Blue Pegasus ten minutes before Lucy's match with Hizuki began, and Team Mermaid Heel now had 23 points.

Shinji merely looked at the buildings that blocked his view of the adjacent street, feeling more interested in the power of those girls, and he sighed while also hearing that Moka was now facing off against Lisanna in an alleyway. He frowned at that little announcement, as he instructed everyone to have their fights near the Domus Flau, and the members of Shinji's team slowed him down more than on the previous day. He actually saw earlier that the treasure chests were located right in front of the stadium's bridge, but the orange-haired male merely walked off while ignoring Kagura's stern look.

"Aren't you going to fight? Do you not need more keys?" She asked him sternly, speaking loud enough for Takuya and the others to hear her.

Shinji replied calmly, after scoffing in a rude manner, "You lost to the person who beat Kurami when she wasn't being careful with her speed. Even if I were to take the assumed ten points from you, it would feel like a hollow victory. You don't interest me."

His brash words about taking points were enough to make Kagura swing her left fist at him, only to see him lightly block it and easily stop it, and Takuya was surprised to see that. He looked up at the Lacrima Vision screen to now see Kira in front of Sabertooth's golden chest with Rogue, one key already being in the keyhole, and Minerva soon arrived with Rufus for them to insert the other golden keys. The mages put their keys in the locks, before turning them to the left, and Kira opened up the treasure chest. It contained a brown bag that was presumably filled with cash, and Sabertooth's mages soon got caught in a white light from how Kira touched the bag!

Takuya and Hizuki looked surprised to see the white light surround Lucy as well, and the golden treasure chest was also engulfed in it. Sabertooth's mages were soon teleported to the Domus Flau with the golden chest, and the sound of the judge's bell was heard. That played for how Team Sabertooth successfully opened their chest, and they gained the fifty bonus points. They now had 155 points in total, which was a great score, but it seemed like no other team could match that. The downside was that Sabertooth's mages could no longer fight, so what would happen?

* * *

 **Four hours later, at the Domus Flau...**

Despite not being able to gain more points, Team Sabertooth stood in the center of the arena while they were deemed to be victorious. They obtained first place with 155 points, and the other scores were shown as well. Team Haina Ganseki finished the game with 81 points, due to Shinji getting the last ten by making his fight with Kagura end quickly, and Team Lamia Scale was in third place with 65 points. Those two teams didn't end up having five keys at their disposal, however, so they couldn't open their chests. Laxus defeated Toby in the last hour to make Team Fairy Tail B finish with 59 points, but that team also didn't have enough keys.

Jenny ended up being defeated by Yuka to leave Blue Pegasus with 58 points, and Team Fairy Tail A was down in sixth place with 57 points. Lisanna may not have defeated Moka, but she was smart enough to take out Yuka when he came across them. Her being distracted did cause Moka to flee, however. Mermaid Heel finished in seventh place with 23 points while Quatro Cerberus finished the game with only 11 points, but this was a pretty good tournament. Team Sabertooth was the happiest team in the stadium, though.

Lucy held the spell book in her right hand while she stood next to Sting, watching the book pulsate with a dark green color, and she happily smiled at him while feeling like this was a great victory. Even though Lucy did not get to fight Shinji, she was still proud about how this year's tournament was great for her guild. Sabertooth found redemption, regaining their title as the best guild in Fiore, and Lucy giggled from seeing Kira hold up the trophy while she let out a psyched up yell. That was a nod to her words on the first day, and no one would forget them.

Sting had been pretty bummed about not getting to participate, but seeing his friends fight with so much determination every day was amazing to watch. He also enjoyed seeing Lucy fight, pretty glad that she came so far in her adventures involving the Rainbow Crystals, and Sting really had to thank her for being so awesome. The light dragon slayer grinned at her while knowing about his own awesomeness, but he totally needed to congratulate Lucy. Her last fight may have ended in a draw, but Sting didn't mind. It was still decent to watch.

"Lucy, you did great out there. Really, you did so well that it makes me think about joining next year to be a reserve member or something." Sting told her with a smile on his face while proceeding to hug her, his blue eyes filled with admiration.

Lucy replied with a nice smile on her face, blushing from Sting's warm hug, "Thank you, Sting! It's always great to know that you're cheering me on, and we'll keep getting stronger together. In fact, we should celebrate our victory soon."

Sting responded while he comically looked shocked, "Oh, man! I totally forgot to plan a party, Lucy! We can make it happen in a few days, I guess."

The two mages broke the hug, before Lucy pressed her lips against Sting's, and most of the crowd cheered. Natsu and Lisanna weren't cheering, due to them making out in front of Wendy while she blushed pink with embarrassment from being so close to them, and Erza sighed as she looked down at the ground. Lisanna had not lectured or scolded her yesterday for losing in the tag-team battle, presumably because of how Fairy Tail could've possibly come from behind to win the whole tournament again, but Erza would certainly have to deal with her team's low ranking.

Kira and Rogue shared a soft kiss while they were happy that Sabertooth won, and they soon broke the kiss while the red-haired merchant directed her eyes at Lucy. Seeing her friend fight so well made Kira feel so happy for her, along with being very psyched, but Kira's happy smile allowed her to hide a faint grin of eagerness. She saw Lucy as a friend and a good rival, someone who she'd be happy to fight against, and Kira couldn't wait for their day to battle each other. In fact, she hoped it would be one of the best battles ever.

Rogue and Minerva both felt proud of Kira's growth in the tournament, and Rogue was the person who believed in Kira from the first day. He enjoyed seeing her fight, also liking how she was quirky and nice, and the shadow dragon slayer felt like it would be great to be at a party with Kira. Slow dancing was actually one of his favorite things to do, and Rogue actually wouldn't mind if Kira stepped on his toes. That would probably just happen once, especially since Kira didn't like doing clumsy around him when they trained in Emblaze Island's volcano.

Minerva merely clapped her hands to applaud her own team for their success, but she was truly impressed with Lucy and Kira. Despite how Lucy battled against Hizuki, Minerva was still glad that she did well with using her spells. She also felt like Kira did well, and Minerva had been worried about the two newest members of Team Sabertooth. They were actually pretty good comrades who she could respect, but Minerva still scoffed at the woman who decided to personally congratulate the powerful team.

"Team Sabertooth, you did so well! In fact, I might invite you to my fashion company someday for a tour. We could have black chocolate cake at the end of it, too." Samantha happily told the group while she looked impressed with them, as her eyes soon shifted to Lucy and Kira.

Kira replied with a delighted facial expression, having an idea, "You should totally give us the recipe for that cake, Miss Kalos! We may have a party, and you can attend it!"

Samantha responded to her in an apologetic tone, her grey eyes weirdly looking calm, "I'm sorry, Kira Blazia, but I have other matters to handle in this upcoming week. I won't be able to attend your party. Fashion designers have tight schedules, but I do hope our paths cross again for lunch or something."

As Samantha looked back at Kenji in the judges' booth for a moment to nicely smile, Lucy kindly told her that those black rhombus-shaped hair clips looked very pretty. Samantha merely giggled at that flattery, saying how they were inspired by something that was dark and lovely, and Samantha put her left hand's index finger to her lips while trying to recall what it was. Minerva rudely told her that those hair clips looked like knockoffs of the Rainbow Crystals, and she narrowed her eyes while sarcastically saying that Samantha was awesome for being a weird fan of them.

Minerva began to ask Lucy if she could imagine Samantha making stupid earrings with something like black shards to resemble jewelry, and that surprisingly made Samantha turn around to leave the team. She looked back to give Minerva an irked look, and her eyes shifted to Lucy's book pulsating in the dark green color. Samantha soon decided to walk out of the stadium, and she did feel somewhat bad about not attending Sabertooth's party. She would still be happy to invite Lucy and some others to something seemingly delightful later, however.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 38? I apologize if any fights seemed rushed or like filler, but I was developing certain characters who needed a bit more spotlight. Anyway, Sabertooth won the Grand Magic Games! They'll even have a party! The next arc will come soon, and it might be interesting. I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story!**


	39. Chapter 39

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Invitations & The Celebration **

* * *

Lucy and Sting were sitting down at a table with Lector while they ate breakfast, and the two mages felt really happy about how Sabertooth won the Grand Magic Games five days ago. Sting still recalled how Chapati was the one to hand Kira the golden trophy, and all of the team members liked seeing its golden color. The light dragon slayer placed the trophy on the bar's counter, but the sight of the trophy in the guild was not the reason why Sting seemed so happy. In fact, his happiness was the result of Sabertooth getting great recognition.

When the team came back to the town of Shioru, they were greeted by several of the town's citizens who stood in front of the train station. Some of them thought that Lucy did well in the first day's event while others praised her for fighting well against Jenny, but other citizens really enjoyed her battle against Erza. Kira was also getting recognition for her intense fight against Kagura, as well as how she beat Kurami, and the citizens also cheered Rogue's name for how he performed quite well in the Darkness Seeker event. Minerva received respect for winning the race in the desert, too.

In addition to that recognition, Sabertooth also got more jobs coming in. The best guild in Fiore did get the right to have the best jobs, and several S-Class jobs were now on the request board. Anyone who wanted to take them would have to handle the missions with Sting, since he still did not have an S-Class trial set up for Sabertooth, but he would not mind. He did give out an order for no jobs to be taken today, however. That was because of how today would be the day for Sabertooth to have their celebratory party for winning the Grand Magic Games, and some money from the cash prize would be used for it.

Lucy smiled happily at Sting, who was still grinning while they ate waffles, and she also felt like it would be great to finally have the party. The Celestial Spirit Wizard took up yesterday's task of writing invitations and sending them out to people who were in different towns, and she did choose to invite some people from Fairy Tail. The invited people could bring guests if they wanted to, but Lucy also anticipated that some people wouldn't show up because of how they would be out on jobs or just choose not to attend. She did hope that party would be great, though.

"Lucy, who do you really want to see at our party? Besides me, who else will make tonight be awesome?" Sting asked her in a calm tone as he began to smile confidently, knowing that his girlfriend made good choices.

Lucy replied kindly as she picked up a waffle with her fork, smiling as she remembered specific people, "Well, I invited Hikari. I also mailed invitations to Takuya and Kenji, and I certainly would not forget Minami. I invited Shinji as well, since he did help me get my foot out of that crack in the ground. Someone from Fairy Tail might come, but it's not a guarantee."

Lector commented while folding his arms, smirking at Lucy's last sentence, "If they choose to not show up, then they're probably still upset over being defeated. It does serve them right, since Erza got mouthy."

The fact that he mentioned Erza's name made Lucy shift her brown eyes down at her waffles while she started looking a bit nervous, and she felt like it would be weird to have Erza at the party. Lucy didn't want this night of celebration to be a night of drama, and she'd probably just stay away from the scarlet-haired mage. The two girls were not on good terms with each other, so Lucy probably would just keep an eye on Erza to make sure that she wouldn't cause trouble. At least Minerva would attend the party and rightfully warp out anyone who caused even a slight bit of craziness.

Speaking of people who would attend, Sting widened his blue eyes from guessing that Lucy did not invite Clair or Hayato. That blue-haired princess and her butler did intend to have a rematch with Lucy and Sting, but they would not stir up trouble at a party. After all, Hayato would be watching Clair and she did have to listen to his orders. Besides, Clair seemed pretty proud of Lucy for winning that match against Jenny. Personally congratulating her and acknowledging that watery strength would be something good to do before a rematch.

Lucy kindly asked Sting if it was wrong of her to not invite them, and Sting smiled a bit as he told her that it wold not hurt to send an invitation to Eisetsu Town. He actually hoped to see most of the people from their adventures involving the Rainbow Crystals, as well as participants from the Grand Magic Games, and this could actually be known as the best party of the entire year. He even planned to buy a seven-layer chocolate cake for the great celebration, and that would certainly be something for people to talk about at a party.

As Sting stretched his arms above his head, he saw Lucy look down at the white shirt and blue skirt that matched her green flat shoes. She soon gave him a worried look while feeling that she needed a good party dress for tonight, but Lucy would start writing that invitation to Clair. She left some pens on a nearby brown table that also had a stack of envelopes on it, and the party's preparations nearly slipped her mind. The current time was 9:30 in the morning, though, and there were at least eleven hours remaining until the party.

"Well, let's finish breakfast and start getting our supplies for the party." Lucy told Sting in a calm manner, as she started eating the waffles again.

Sting responded nicely as he chuckled, "Yeah, and don't worry about anything. Lucy, we'll enjoy this party. After so many crazy adventures, we deserve this nice party."

Lector added as he smirked, before flying on Sting's head, "Sting-kun, we'll definitely have fun! Also, you get to see Lucy-san in a beautiful dress!"

That made both of the mages blush a light shade of pink, as Lucy did begin to think about which dress Sting would like to see her wear, and she wondered if he would like to see her in a blue dress. That would be pretty nice, but Lucy did remember that she had the green dress from Kasai Town in her apartment. That wasn't exactly a party dress, however, but Shioru Town's clothing store would hopefully have something nice for her to wear. Knowing Samantha Kalos and her passion for fashion, party dresses would certainly be in stock.

As Lucy ate her breakfast, she felt like this party would certainly be interesting. Some people would either show up or not attend while she still needed to find a nice dress, and Sting was getting an awesome cake. Kira and Rogue were getting lots of snacks for the party while Minerva was out buying nice decorations with Rufus, and the people who already received invitations were picking out their guests while also deciding on gifts to bring. Well, let's just say that almost everyone was feeling hyped up for Sting's great party.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Natsu looked quite excited from seeing Mirajane get out from behind the bar while she held a red envelope in her hands, and this was an announcement that everyone needed to hear. In fact, they would probably be pretty happy about it. Some nice news would be a good change from how everyone seemed down from losing the Grand Magic Games, and Natsu sat down at a table with Gray and Lisanna while hoping that the news was about Fairy Tail receiving a consolation prize. Even if it was a pie, Natsu would be okay with that.

He watched Mirajane smile as she opened up the envelope, and her blue eyes widened in shock from what she was seeing. Everyone was curious about what was in the envelope, as Mira did make it be part of an official announcement, and silence filled the guildhall as Mira quietly continued to read the letter. This was not a very long message, but it certainly was written nicely. Mira felt quite glad that this was in Fairy Tail's mailbox today, and she could only happily giggle while getting ready to tell everyone about the letter in the envelope.

"We've been invited to a party, everybody! Lucy sent this invitation, and Sabertooth is having a party tonight!" Mirajane told everyone in the guildhall with a cheerful facial expression.

Natsu exclaimed while looking pumped up, as many people cheered, "That is so awesome! We should totally attend, since Lucy was nice enough to send us that invitation!"

Levy added as she sat next to Gajeel, smiling happily, "It'll be nice for us to see Lu-chan again and catch up with her."

As Lisanna hugged Natsu while saying that she would attend, her eyes shifted to the sight of Erza walking away from the request board to sit down in the chair that was beside Gray. She merely folded her arms while not looking happy about the party, and Erza groaned in a bummed manner. She was not planning to attend Sabertooth's party, since the past five days were where Fairy Tail's wizards felt bummed about how neither of their teams managed to get into the top three in the Grand Magic Games, and Erza didn't want to see Lucy again.

She looked at Lisanna giving Natsu a soft kiss on the lips, and Erza really hoped that Lisanna wouldn't order her to attend the party. She already got a scolding from Lisanna four days ago about how her bad karma heavily impacted the guild's chances of winning, and Erza did start feeling pretty bad about how she treated Lucy in the tournament. Every instance of her denigrating Lucy was something bad to look back on, and Erza felt very embarrassed about it. In fact, people in Magnolia began to whisper about how Erza was quite a bad friend.

Lucy was certainly not weak, and she proved that to Erza in the tag-team battle. Even though the blonde-haired girl was now seen as a worthy opponent by Erza, making Lucy see that an apology was true could be difficult. After all, Lucy did perceive Erza to be a pretty bad friend who lost her trust. Trying to apologize would be very hard, and Erza did not want to end up saying the wrong thing to her. Lisanna could see Erza's look of shame and humiliation, as she was very embarrassed, and karma totally came back to hurt Erza.

Gray got up from his chair while he mentioned something about getting Lucy a nice gift, prompting Natsu to also get up while confidently stating that his gift would be better, and both males ran out of the guildhall at high speeds side by side while they comically argued about who would purchase the best gift for Lucy. That left Lisanna alone with Erza, and the two girls really needed to talk. Lisanna would've made Erza go to the party for her own amusement, but seeing her look so ashamed made the youngest Strauss sibling wonder if Erza finally realized that she was wrong to act like her actions were always right.

"Erza, do you want me to help you apologize to Lucy or do you think she won't even forgive you?" Lisanna asked her while looking concerned, not wanting Erza to mope around forever.

Erza responded calmly as she sighed and looked down at the table, "Lucy probably hates my guts, Lisanna. I was so mean to her, and I can understand if she refuses to forgive me. Maybe I need to apologize with more than words."

Lisanna nicely told her while looking compassionate, smiling softly, "The tournament did just end recently, so don't beat yourself up about it. You may not be able to apologize now, but you'll someday be able to make her see that you're truly sorry."

Erza brought up how she felt very humiliated from how rumors were swirling around about her, and even some spectators did not want to root for her. Erza's attitude towards Lucy even made her lose some of her biggest fans from last year, and this was certainly a low point in her life as a wizard. Erza regretted how she treated Lucy, as that really played a role in her downfall, and not having the right words for an apology really made her feel horrible. Living with the shame was tough, and Erza didn't want to attend the party.

Lisanna asked her about what would happen if Natsu and Gray started an argument in the Sabertooth guild, and the woman with brown eyes told her that Minerva could handle it. That certainly surprised Lisanna, and she told her that the party would have lots of food. Since Sabertooth got the cash prize while their guild was quite big, surely they would have lots of delicious food for everyone to eat. Erza still declined to attend the party, and that made Lisanna sigh. She could see everyone besides Erza looking pretty stoked for the party, and that made Lisanna tell Erza she'd have to attend.

Going to the party would boost the morale of the Fairy Tail members, as they would be around excitement and great food, so Lisanna felt like Erza had to somehow be cheered up. She could even sit by herself and eat food, something that no one would mind seeing her do, and Lisanna would just dance with Natsu or ask to see Lucy's Rainbow Crystals. Lisanna did think back to the sight of them, and she thought that the crystals were so pretty. In fact, Lisanna wondered if she and Natsu could try to find one somewhere.

As Lisanna wondered about finding a nice crystal, she soon got up from the table to walk over to Mirajane. Getting good gifts was one of Mira's specialties, as she loved getting information about people's tastes in gifts to know exactly what they'd want, and Mira would help Lisanna get a nice present for Lucy. She would certainly deserve it for doing well in the Grand Magic Games, and Mira was quite happy to see Lucy defeat Jenny in a fight. She and her sister would gladly attend the party, but Erza would just keep to herself. The wizards from Fairy Tail weren't the only guests, though.

* * *

 **One hour later, in Kazehana Town...**

Kira and Rogue managed to bring lots of delicious snacks to the Sabertooth guild, pretty happy that they completed that task for tonight's party, but Kira felt like it would be nice to get some mint cookies from the town of Kazehana as well. They would be a nice addition to the desserts and chips that Rogue helped her buy, and Kira also hoped to find some other sweets. Going to the bakery would certainly be a very wise idea, as the green apple pies and mint chocolate cupcakes in this town were very delicious, but more scents of sweetness entered Kira's nostrils.

Rogue could also smell the lovely aroma in the air, and the shadow dragon slayer smiled kindly while Frosch was on his left shoulder. The wizards watched the green Exceed cutely point to the cafe that was nearby, even feeling breezes come from the cafe while they made the delicious smells go out into the town, and Kira felt like it would be awesome to buy some desserts from this cafe. Even if the sweets were being sold at a high price, it would be great to buy some slices of cake. Rogue and Kira walked towards the cafe's front doors to push them inward, but they were surprisingly greeted by a familiar person.

"Welcome to the Kazehana Scale cafe! It's nice to see you!" Hizuki stated to the mages as she smiled with her eyes closed, before opening them to see the customers.

Kira responded nicely as she walked in with Rogue, seeing that there were seven tables in the cafe, "Hi, Hizuki! It's good to see you, too!"

Rogue added as he looked at the mint green walls matching the dark green wooden floor, "Well, you work at a pretty nice cafe."

As Kira and Rogue let their eyes glance around the cafe, they were surprised to see that a request board was to the left of the cashier's counter. Takuya hadn't forgotten the deal that he made with Rufus, and the green-haired mage even hung up a picture on the wall that featured Lucy smiling. Rufus took that photo of her yesterday to give to Takuya, along with some great jobs, and he upheld their agreement. Takuya's cafe was giving Sabertooth some nice regonition, and his cafe got some awesome jobs in return. Really, wasn't that a fair trade?

Rogue walked up to the counter with Kira while they saw Takuya standing behind the counter, and he was delighted to see them. The green-haired wizard told them that he received Lucy's invitation to the party tonight, and he'd gladly go with Hizuki. Lyon and Chelia were also invited, and they happily served desserts to the customers while working in the cafe. Takuya asked Kira and Rogue about what they wanted to buy, and the red-haired merchant kindly asked him for two boxes of mint chocolate cupcakes. Rogue also asked Takuya for a green apple pie, and the wind-wielding mage was happy to hear those requests.

He took out the boxes of cookies and two boxes of apple pies from the bottom cupboards of his counter, and he placed the green boxes on the counter. Takuya also took out a box of chocolate fudge cookies as an added bonus for the customers, and the second pie was free of charge. Kira took out 9,000 jewels from the left pocket of her brown pants, and she gladly paid for the order. Takuya smiled as she kindly told him to accept all that money, and he watched Kira pick up three boxes while Rogue picked up the other two.

Kira and Rogue began to walk out of the cafe, happily walking side by side, but they were surprised to suddenly see Kenji enter the cafe with nine cola bottles in his hands. He was quick with placing all of the soda bottles on a nearby table, and the guy with purple hair grinned at Takuya while he was happy to deliver the drinks from Mumargi Town. Takuya had heard that Mumargi Town's amusement park sold many cola bottles, due to Kenji and Misora using some of the money Kyouji left behind to order daily shipments of cola, and he actually sent a flyer to that town four days ago while requesting that the cola be brought by Mumargi's leader.

"Hey, Kira! Hi, Rogue! I got the invitation that Lucy sent about the party, and I'll bring along some dark mages who can carry more cola." Kenji told them in a kind tone, as his eyes caught sight of them.

Rogue responded calmly, "Hello, Kenji. It's good that you'll come to the party. Also, I hope you've been improving with your magic."

Kenji told Rogue as he smiled at his progress, glad that he also accomplished something nice, "My Poison Magic has gotten better, since I've been improving it with the dark mages in Tsukiari Town. I'm also helping a woman there make her Darkness Magic be at a high level. I'm also happy to be teaching dark magic to the people in Mumargi with the books Kyouji left behind."

Kira and Rogue were pretty glad to hear that Kenji was doing well, and the mages smiled as they left the cafe. Kira was quite glad that Lucy told the train's conductor to make stops at certain towns to deliver the invitations on the previous day, and Lucy herself gave Takuya the invitation yesterday. This party seemed like it would be totally awesome, but one little thing was on Kira's mind. Other than just finding a red dress, she did think about how it would be great to dance with Rogue while a slow song would be heard.

That would be very nice, and Kira would be sure to follow Rogue's lead. She thought about looking into his beautiful red eyes while thinking about how he would kiss her, and the hazel-eyed wizard began to happily dance around while trying to hum music that would be played for the dance known as the waltz. Rogue merely gave her a surprised look while seeing her dance around, but seeing Frosch get off his shoulder to happily dance around near Kira made Rogue realize that they really looked forward to tonight's party.

* * *

 **Three hours later, in Eisetsu Town...**

Clair and Hayato stood across from Jenny Realight while they were glad that she decided to handle their task of giving snowboarding lessons to the newest wizards in the Winter Snowflake guild, and Hayato pulled out a small bag of 30,000 jewels from the right pocket of his blue pants. He wore his favorite blue tuxedo as he smiled at Jenny, and Clair wore her blue bodysuit. The two strong mages were out handling a job that required some criminals to be assassinated, and Jenny took up their request that had reached the Blue Pegasus guild.

She wore a brown winter coat with brown pants and brown boots to match, along with a cute pink hat, and Jenny was quite glad to spend the past four hours snowboarding with the mages. She was glad to have friendly races down the mountain with them, as well as having a snowball fight, and Jenny even posed with them when the paparazzi in this area decided to take pictures of her for the next issue of Sorcerer Magazine. Being the current Miss Fiore had its perks, such as how the journalists would probably say that Jenny was the queen of snowboarding.

Hayato felt pleased that no avalanches occurred, and he was also glad to be back in the town of Eisetsu. Jenny kindly thanked him for giving her the great opportunity to finally see this town, and she finally got to meet the legendary Clair Emperté. The blue-haired woman merely folded her arms while scoffing at Jenny, remembering her battle against Lucy in the Grand Magic Games, and she hoped that the woman from the fifth-best guild would not start wanting her autograph. Clair didn't see herself as much of a celebrity, and even criminals who liked her beauty would run away in fear.

Now that her job here was done, Jenny felt like she needed to head to the train station for the sake of going to the next job that would come with much more money. She began to walk past Clair, who merely stayed silent, but Jenny pulled out the flyer from the left pocket of her coat to check it again. This was the flyer for her second job, and it was written by a client from Nurie Town. Apparently, the client felt too scared to go see something weird in the highlands near the town. Jenny would gladly check out the problem, though.

"Okay, I'll be done with with work after I finish this job in Nurie Town." Jenny stated aloud to herself, as she began walking away from Clair and Hayato.

Hayato asked her in a somewhat curious tone, widening his eyes as he recalled that town's policy, "Wait, how can you go there without an invitation?"

Jenny asked him while she turned around, looking puzzled, "You have to be invited into that town? How come I went there before, though?"

The blue-haired male explained to her that he heard some little rumors in different towns about how Nurie was a place for people who were somewhat wealthy, even though the town wouldn't look too extravagant, and people needed to be invited into Nurie. That was done to most likely keep out criminals who intended to steal from the wealthy citizens, and the town also did not have a guild. Jenny was still puzzled on why she would need an invitation, despite the fact that a flyer granted her entry into the town last time.

She brought up how Samantha Kalos was someone who she knew in that town, and the two guards in front of the town's entrance did remember seeing Jenny walk out in her thinner state because of Samantha's spell. Invitations were probably needed for people entering the town on their first time, and Hayato could understand that Jenny took a job that was sent out by a famous fashion designer. He merely apologized for wasting a few moments of Jenny's time, and he watched her run towards the train. His blue eyes did spot a picture of something resembling Samantha's black hair clip at the bottom of the flyer, but he didn't think too much about it.

Hayato's thoughts shifted to how the train conductor recently gave Clair a light blue envelope that she held in her left hand, and the train conductor informed her that it was given to him by someone from Shioru Town. That brought back the memory of when Hayato and Clair went there to find a strong opponent for the frosty princess to fight, and Hayato certainly hadn't forgotten Clair's battle against Lucy. He did look forward to the rematch against her and Sting, but Hayato also hoped that Lucy was getting much stronger than when she first received the Cerulean Crystal.

He watched Clair's blue eyes shift down to the envelope, and she proceeded to open it up. Hayato wondered if Lucy would be the one who wanted to challenge them this time, or maybe her team needed their assistance on a tough job. Either way, Hayato would be happy to handle that request. After all, he was a butler who would do his best to please whoever needed his services. As he saw Clair's expression shift from a bored one to a nice smile while her eyes widened, however, Hayato soon glanced at the note that was in the envelope.

"It says that we're invited to the Sabertooth guild's party, Hayato. There will be lots of food and fun, but I wouldn't want to leave Eisetsu Town defenseless against an avalanche." Clair told him while looking pretty impressed that they were invited at the last minute.

Hayato replied while smiling softly and folding his arms, "Princess Clair, you go to the party. I'll keep an eye on the town for you."

Clair responded nicely, proceeding to hug her butler, "All right, Hayato. Thanks. However, I may beat up anyone who gets too drunk."

That simply made Hayato chuckle, as he knew that Clair was a great authority figure, and she'd probably spend more time standing around instead of dancing. He did tell her to at least try socializing with someone at the party, even if she would have to run into the pink-haired girl who she talked with during the third day of the Grand Magic Games, and Hayato even brought up that Clair might run into other mages who were involved with the Rainbow Crystals. That was certainly an interesting thing for her to think about.

Clair looked at the gold piece of paper to see that the party was starting at 8:30 p.m., and she looked at her blue watch that was shaped like a snowflake to see that it was currently 1:30 in the afternoon. That gave her seven hours to prepare for the party, and Hayato would help the princess find something nice to give the Sabertooth mages. After all, it was pretty great to see them win the Grand Magic Games. Hayato actually won money in a bet that a mage made with him about who would win during Lucy's fight against Jenny, and he'd certainly put those 50,000 jewels to good use.

* * *

 **Later that night, at the Sabertooth guild...**

The guildhall of Sabertooth was decorated beautifully with some white banners hanging from different parts of the ceiling while the Sabertooth insignia was on them in a gold color, and some of the party's snacks were on the various tables. Minerva had purchased two long brown tables from a furniture store in Shioru Town, and the other snacks were placed on them. Golden cups and golden plates were also on the long tables, and the plentiful amount of food was certainly more than enough for all of the guests who showed up.

Lucy wore a strapless orchid purple dress that showed some cleavage, and her hair was down while she stood next to Sting. He simply wore his usual attire, since he was the guild master, and Sting let all of the guests into the guild. Minami came in first with her band members, followed by the wizards from Fairy Tail, and Takuya showed up with some of the people from Lamia Scale. Kenji also came to the party with some of the dark mages from Mumargi Town, and he surprised Lucy by giving her a large gift that was wrapped with purple paper.

Lucy shook the box gently to hear the soft sounds of bottles touching each other, and she placed the box on a table where Kira was sitting with Rogue. The shadow dragon slayer watched his girlfriend open the present to see that it was a wooden crate stocked with forty bottles of delicious cola, and the quality of the soda was quite good. Lucy watched Takuya pick up some of the Volcano Cupcakes that Minerva brought from Kasai Town, and he even put five of them on one plate. Everyone was certainly getting some food, and this party would be very fun.

Orga acted as the DJ while Minerva stood behind the bar, and some party music was playing in the guildhall. Natsu and Gray were sitting down at a table with Lisanna an Wendy while Erza sat at a faraway table, and Lucy happily kissed Sting on the lips as she ignored the slight quarreling from the Fairy Tail members. Apparently, Natsu snatched a cheeseburger from Gray's plate and got the black-haired male to be mad at him. Gray took one of Natsu's chicken wings, making him also look angry, and the two boys were about to start fighting.

"You really think it's funny to take one of my cheeseburgers, flame-brain?" Gray asked him sternly as Juvia stood behind him.

Natsu responded as he looked ready to fight, before hearing some familiar footsteps, "You took one of my chicken wings, you ice stripper! I'll burn you down right now, and-"

"There is no fighting allowed at the party. If you want to fight, however, let's handle it outside. I'd hate to make you two run out of here like how you ran from me last time." Clair told the boys as she walked up to them, having her arms folded while giving them a death glare.

Her intimidating presence made Natsu and Gray comically start acting like best buddies, and neither of them wanted to experience Clair's wrath. Natsu thought she was much scarier than Erza, and Clair simply walked over to one of the tables that contained a basket of chocolate fudge cookies. Gray and Natsu would certainly not brawl in this guild, as Clair even exhaled a frosty breath in their direction, and the frostiness of her magic was certainly felt in that chilling breath. Lucy and Sting ended their kiss in time to see that Clair joined the party, but they could only chuckle at how Natsu and Gray were really acting like friends.

Sting gently put his left hand on Lucy's right cheek while he was really glad that she reminded him about celebrating Sabertooth's victory in the Grand Magic Games, and he was very happy that she was his girlfriend. Sting even liked how Lucy made most of the suggestions about food for the party, and he was also glad that she did not choose to have balloons at this nice party. After all, any of those that popped would certainly make him and Natsu scream about the loud noise. Sting also liked how Lucy chose to have more desserts at this party, instead of it mostly being salty foods.

There were potato chips and nacho cheese chips in some bowls, however, and Lucy saw Ayame from Voltage Town hurry in to get some of those snacks while Hikari walked in after her with some mages who decided to keep wearing their white robes with the white hoods. Hikari placed a present on one of the tables while smiling at Lucy, hoping that she would like it, and the girl with wavy blonde hair looked over at the seven-layer chocolate cake that was on the bar's counter while it was protected by a tall glass case.

Hikari's nice present was something sweet that would actually be just as delicious as cake, and she actually opened it to let Lucy see that the present was some vanilla-flavored pastries on a tray while they were shaped like lightning bolts. Hikari informed Akina about Lucy's party that was happening tonight, and the lightning priestess ordered one of her former followers with culinary skills to prepare those pastries that Hikari would bring to the party. Lucy and her friends were pretty glad that Hikari showed up, and they walked over to her.

"Hey, Hikari! It's great to see that you're here!" Lucy happily told her friend, who simply wore a plain yellow dress.

Hikari responded with a smile on her face, delighted to see Lucy and her friends, "It's great to see all of you as well, Lucy. By the way, congratulations on winning the Grand Magic Games."

Lucy replied cheerfully, before proceeding to go eat some food, "Thanks, Hikari! Also, your gift is very nice."

As Lucy walked off to get some food, she looked at everyone in the guildhall to see them having fun. People from her different adventures involving the Rainbow Crystals were even chatting with each other, such as how Takuya introduced himself to Minami and heard her tell him that she was the main guitarist in her rock band called Cosmic Meteor, and Lucy walked over to put three slices of green apple pie on a plate while sighing at how Takuya started playing an air guitar in an attempt to impress her. Hizuki sighed in an embarrassed manner while standing next to her with a plate of mint cupcakes in her left hand, hoping that Takuya wouldn't start dancing.

There were certainly many guests at the party, and even Kira was giggling while Chelia told her that Hizuki was probably a little jealous about Takuya flirting with other girls. Kira merely giggled about that, and she told the sky god slayer that romance was so nice to witness. She soon went over to Rogue for the purpose of putting a chocolate fudge cookie in his mouth, and Rogue chewed it for a few moments before Kira kissed his lips. Lucy enjoyed seeing her friends be pretty happy, and she was surprised to see some more people show up.

Shinji finally reached the Sabertooth guild with Kurami standing on the left side of him, and Hyde stood on his right side. While the orange-haired male was out at the party tonight, he let Moka be in charge of Haina Ganseki. Kurami and Moka helped Shinji make the perfect gift for Lucy's party, and the guests would most likely also enjoy it. Kurami held a large clay pot of pumpkin spice pudding in her hands, and Shinji softened it up to be really creamy by using his Earth Magic. He didn't seem extremely excited for the party, but he chose to attend just for the purpose of being polite.

Kurami walked over to the dessert table for the purpose of placing the bowl of pudding on it, and she picked up one of the golden spoons that was nearby to scoop up a little bit of pudding. Kurami tasted it and liked it flavor, before deciding to walk up to some people and dance along with them, and Shinji allowed Hyde to go eat some salty pretzels. Shinji himself just decided to lean against a wall and listen to the music that was being played, and Lucy thought about offering him some pie. Before she could walk over there, however, she turned around from receiving a light tap on her right shoulder.

"Lu-chan, this party is great! Everyone's having so much fun, and we're really glad you invited us here. Also, here's a nice gift." Levy told her while smiling, as she wore her orange sundress.

Lucy replied nicely while smiling, as Levy handed her a green box that was tied with an orange ribbon, "Thanks, Levy-chan! I wonder what this gift could be."

Levy told her in a calm tone, recalling how Gajeel made the small gift, "It might be something that's really strong. Gajeel made it himself."

Lucy responded nicely as she took off the ribbon and opened the box, "Whatever it is, it's not very heavy."

She looked in the box to see that it was a black kunai knife, made from a piece of black iron that Gajeel once found in a cave, and Gajeel used his own magic to make that kunai knife be quite strong. He could sense that Lucy was strong, but it never hurt anyone to possibly slice up an enemy with an iron knife that was quite sharp. Even though Lucy appreciated the gift, she couldn't see herself using it. She did want to give Levy something that she found several months ago, however, and Lucy felt like Levy could decipher its contents.

She pulled out the brown book from the left pocket of her dress, accidentally picking it up while she left her spell book at home with the golden keys, and Lucy opened it up for Levy to see that the ragged book was written in black runes. She smiled at how some of the words on the pages were easy for her to translate, and Levy gladly accepted the book for Lucy. She would give it back after it was deciphered, but this gift was certainly as odd as how it was strangely in that pink treasure chest. (If you don't remember that, see Chapter 31.)

Levy put the book in the left pocket of her orange dress, and she walked back to the table where Gajeel was comically eating some metal spoons. Lucy walked back over to Sting while deciding to eat a slice of apple pie, and she loved how the pie tasted so good while the green dessert had a good amount of sourness to it. Takuya could certainly make delicious pies for his customers, and Lucy would probably love eating a mint chocolate chip sundae at his cafe sometime. She listened to Orga scratch the vinyl records on the turntable while he was doing it rhythmically as a techno song was about to end, and this party was awesome.

Lucy placed her plate of pie slices on the table while she proceeded to sit down next to Sting, and she gave him a happy look while seeing him grin back at her. Sting had put three cheeseburgers on his plate, along with four rice balls, but he would definitely save enough room in his stomach for dessert. Sting bit into a cheeseburger, liking how it tasted so good, and he soon got up from his chair while swallowing the food. He watched Rufus use his Memory-Make Magic to darken the room while giving it purple lighting, and one of Orga's records began to play a slow song.

"Lucy, would you like to dance with me?" Sting asked her nicely, as he stretched out his left hand.

The blonde-haired girl replied as she looked into his beautiful blue eyes, before touching his hand with her right hand, "Yes, Sting. I'd love to dance with you."

Kira told Rogue in a calm manner, before glancing down at her strapless red dress, "Well, Rogue, let's have our first dance."

The couples began to dance to the music while Sting put his arms around Lucy's waist, and Lucy put her arms on Sting's shoulders. Kira and Rogue held each other's hands while they slowly stepped to their left and right sides, and Rogue was helping Kira dance in rhythm with the music. She looked into Rogue's eyes while blushing, loving how he gave her a comforting smile, and Kira liked how Rogue gently twirled her around. Kira almost fell, but Rogue grabbed her by the waist and let their hands touch to where they looked like a tango dance was occurring.

Levy and Gajeel also held each other's hands while dancing slowly to the music, and Natsu was completely offbeat by how he was happily dancing next to Lisanna while feeling excited. Gray walked over to a blue-haired girl who wore a light blue blouse and a dark blue skirt to go with her blue high heels, thinking she was Juvia, and the ice mage asked her to dance. He looked into her blue eyes while gently touching her hands, but Gray soon became surprised by Hikari telling Ayame to show off some nice dance moves. Juvia was actually shocked to see Gray dancing with Hikari's assistant from Voltage Town, but seeing him look at her with a sheepish grin made her blush deep pink as Kurami and Hyde decided to sit across from her.

Everyone seemed to be having fun, except for Erza. She sat alone at a table while watching Lucy dance with Sting, not even paying attention to how other people were just dancing or chatting, and the scarlet-haired mage really wanted to leave. As she got up from the table and saw Kenji go over to Lucy's table to get a cold bottle of cola, however, Erza's eyes caught sight of a certain purple-haired male entering the guildhall. He still wore a purple top hat with his favorite violet tuxedo and lavender pants, but how did he find out about the party?

Kyouji actually visited Kazehana Town at the same time that Kenji visited Takuya's cafe, and he overheard the two males talking about Sabertooth's party. The user of Darkness Magic just came to check out the celebration, glad to mainly see that Kenji was having fun with his friends, and Erza was the only person to see Kyouji walk out of the guild with a smile on his face. Lucy was smiling as well while she gave Sting a happy hug for helping her with this party, and the two Sabertooth mages would continue to enjoy the next few minutes of the slow song. Afterwards, they would help Minerva cut that seven-layer chocolate cake.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 39? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Since the Grand Magic Games ended, I felt like making this nice chapter. It's certainly fun and calm, which is awesome. I'm excited for the next chapter, too. I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story!**


	40. Chapter 40

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Friends and Foes**

* * *

Lucy sat down at a table with Kira and Rogue while Sting was handling paperwork in his office, and the three mages were still feeling good about the party. An entire week had gone by with wizards in many towns spreading news about how Sabertooth's party was probably the best party of the year, and everyone in the guild felt very proud of how they worked hard to have a great celebration. They couldn't have enjoyed the entire party without their friends, however, and all of the food was incredibly delicious. In fact, Kurami gave Kira the recipe for that pumpkin spice pudding.

Rogue and Kira were currently looking down at today's newspaper that was on the table, focusing on one article that seemed quite nice, and Lucy gently leaned over the table to also see the article. Her brown eyes were quite surprised to see a photo of Samantha Kalos in the newspaper, liking how she stood outside her fashion company while making a gesture that signaled for people to come in, and Lucy also took notice of how the fashion company's building was also being featured in the article. It was called Kalos Incorporated while being named solely after its presidents.

Kira's hazel eyes widened somewhat from seeing the article state that Samantha was going to celebrate the seventh anniversary of Kalos Inc. being founded, and it would be nice for the guild that threw a great party to attend the fashion designer's festivities. Since the mages from Sabertooth won the Grand Magic Games, they could be allowed in to celebrate with Samantha. Minerva would probably refuse to even see Samantha, as she really did not like her fashion sense, and Rufus was out on a job in Hoshizora Town that required him to guard some new paintings.

Rogue smiled at Kira while they both thought it would be nice to go congratulate Samantha and her employees for working so hard to obtain enough success in the fashion world to where they could celebrate another anniversary, and Lucy felt like accompanying her friends. She would let Sting and Lector come along, too, and Rogue would not leave Frosch behind. Kira and Lucy both smiled at the thought of getting to have a tour of the company, as they'd probably get to see Samantha's office and her newest line of clothing for the summer season, but Rogue would probably just eat some free food.

"I wonder what Samantha's company will be like. Maybe we'll get to see everything." Kira happily told Rogue and Lucy while she grinned in a cheerful manner.

Lucy replied with a soft smile on her face, knowing it was still a place of business, "There are probably areas for employees only, so we can't just wander around wherever we want. After all, I'd hate to get thrown out by Samantha's security guards."

Rogue added as he remained quite calm, thinking about another possible rule, "Samantha may not even allow people with cameras inside, since photography can backfire if the pictures of her designs get into a rival company's hands."

Lucy felt like they could just enjoy the celebration, as Samantha's town would probably have some nice attractions, and she also planned to get her friend's autograph. Even though Lucy purchased many outfits and nice hats from the clothing stores where Rainbow Crystals were required, she never actually got Samantha's autograph. It would be something nice to keep in her apartment, as an autographed photo of a famous celebrity could be sold for millions of jewels later on, and Lucy would love some new fashion tips.

In fact, she soon looked happy about the thought of asking Samantha to see her next line of clothing. Lucy would be surprised if Samantha's company worked hard in advance to even have winter clothing or fall clothing in stock while it had to later be publicly released, but Lucy wouldn't be hasty with wanting to take any of the clothes home. After all, leaking those clothes really would ruin the surprise for Samantha's other fans who felt great joy from seeing the new coats or shoes end up in the various fashion stores.

The three mages got up from the table while they took one last look down at the newspaper to see that Samantha's company was in the town of Nurie. That place was only three hours away from Shioru Town, and Nurie was somewhat known by other wizards for the highlands that were north of it. Lucy felt excited to visit this town, and she took a moment to look at her attire. She wore a pink T-shirt with a purple skirt, and her shoes were emerald green. Lucy walked off to go see Sting and ask him if he wanted to come along, and Kira felt psyched up.

The thought of being in another party made the red-haired merchant feel excited, particularly because of how she and Rogue would get to dance together, and Kira had happily kissed him yesterday for helping her capture a criminal in Hyakkoku. She planned on kissing him again at the party, probably after making him get pie on his lips for it to actually be there, but Kira's thoughts were soon interrupted by Lector flying into the guildhall while two white envelopes were gently in his mouth. He held a white shopping bag in his hands as well, and the bag was filled with fish-shaped pastries.

Lector calmly explained to Kira after he landed on the table and set everything down, frowning a bit, "Kira-san, these envelopes were in front of our guild. Whoever placed them there was probably in too much of a hurry to even greet the great Sting-kun."

Kira picked up one of the envelopes to see that it strongly smelled sweet like black forest cake, which was actually the perfume sprayed on the envelope, but she chose to open it when Lucy and Sting were here. They were still talking in the office, and sharing her curiosity with them would be nice. Kira took notice of how Lucy's name was elegantly written on the bottom-right corner of the envelope she held in her right hand while Kira saw her own name elegantly written on the envelope that was on the table, and she hoped that these weren't ransom notes from bitter criminals.

As Kira thought about ransom notes, that took her back to the first day that she met Lucy. That situation on Emblaze Island could've been tragic for the hazel-eyed girl if Lucy hadn't decided to take care of her trouble, and their friendship started from that day. Kira giggled softly at how Lucy worked so well with her in the tag-team battle, too, and two jobs that they handled in this past week were completed by Lucy and Kira punching the criminals in their faces simultaneously. Both girls were great wizards, and they got along quite well.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Lisanna and Natsu were checking out the request board for a job that they could handle today, and they certainly would not take on any tasks that seemed too rough. It seemed like they'd have to just take a job that would give them fifty-thousand jewels, since the other jobs required assassinations, and Erza would not be around to help them today. She was currently getting on a train to handle the job of guarding Minami's rock band from obsessed fans during their first concert at the large venue, and that job would totally be fun.

Natsu unpinned the flyer from the board while he thought that today would be one of the most boring days ever, since no one was even brawling, and Gajeel went off somewhere to train with Lily. Gray needed to handle a task that was supposedly very dire in the town of Nichibotsu, and Natsu wished that he and Lisanna could've gone to that hot town with the black-haired mage. Gray left two hours ago, and Natsu assumed that his rival must've been fighting some giant monsters or taking down bandits who were being aggressive.

The job that Lisanna picked out merely involved going to Emblaze Island for the purpose of fighting a client who wanted to be in charge of handing out the Fire Crystal, and this client claimed to be the strongest fire-wielding mage in his crew. The client was actually a boy who would be around Wendy's age, but he was part of the guild called Hell's Blaze. Even though he wasn't going to pay much money, Natsu felt like it would be good to spend some time with a nice fight. In fact, whoever won would get to hold the challenges for the Fire Crystal in the volcano.

Natsu wondered why someone would want to make a bet like that, as he didn't want to spend all his time standing around in volcano to just wait for challengers, but people with authority in the ancient challenge did have the right to set their time and place for challenges. That kept things fair for everyone, and the people collecting the Rainbow Crystals could spend time training until a person with authority showed up. The job still seemed fun with Lisanna at his side, so Natsu would handle it. As he looked excited, however, the guild's front doors opened.

Gray asked Shinji from Haina Ganseki while he stood next to him, looking pretty shocked at the true job he handled, "Wait, so you and your teammates stressed how Nichibotsu Town needed my skills for an urgent crisis and you all just wanted cold coffee drinks?"

Shinji replied calmly as he folded his arms, recalling the dilemma, "Well, the air conditioner in the coffee shop lost its electricity. Hyde's on his way to Voltage Town, and he'll find someone who can give it a nice jolt. Still, it certainly was a crisis. You saw how Hyde griped about his mocha coffee being too hot. When he can't drink it, he gets very angry."

Gray replied with a puzzled look on his face, his left eye slightly twitching, "According to you, sandstorms in the Haina Desert are easy to handle but coffee that isn't cold is a major crisis."

Shinji merely nodded while giving Gray a bag that contained 100,000 jewels, and he walked off while proceeding to put a white envelope in the left pocket of his brown pants. Gray asked the guy with mid-length orange hair to accompany him back to Fairy Tail, just to show the guild members that some people had no issues with being histrionic in their requests, but Shinji didn't mind that. In fact, he felt like it was good for a small guild like Haina Ganseki to have their strongest member walk through Magnolia with someone from Fairy Tail. Some people recognized him from the Grand Magic Games, and they spoke of his karate chops that could smash down rocks with ease.

Gray calmly asked Shinji if he wanted to join Fairy Tail's daily brawl, but the wizard from Nichibotsu merely scoffed while openly saying he wouldn't want to fight someone who lost to Hyde. He even brought up how someone like Lucy Heartfilia was more worthy of his skills, and Gray simply walked into the guild while choosing to stop speaking to Shinji. Gray assumed that Shinji was a cocky person, but Lisanna remembered how Shinji defeated Beth without even trying. On top of that, the fact that she saw him jump down to the ground from the guild's top step and perfectly land on his feet did show that he was impressive.

Shinji was probably not as strong as Jura from Lamia Scale, but the way he used Earth Magic with power and cleverness like Lucy had been quite amazing. As Gray walked over to a table and sat down, Natsu grinned as he decided to run out of the Fairy Tail guild with Lisanna. He didn't want to keep that mage from Hell's Blaze waiting for the challenge, and the fire dragon slayer would come back to tell Gray about the fight. He hoped to rub the win in his face, and Natsu would also enjoy eating that person's hot flames. He'd also have Lisanna fly him to Emblaze Island, since he didn't want to take a boat there.

The fact that no brawls happened in the guild was also nice for Levy, as she sat down at another table while deciphering the brown book that Lucy gave her, and the girl with blue hair looked focused while she was reading an entry in what appeared to be a diary. Levy had been reading certain pages that she deciphered, finding the information to be really interesting, but one entry was rather odd. Even though this book had some info on mining and what was found, Levy felt intrigued by how this entry was made in the middle of the section about mining.

"October 7th, X789. It is my daughter's 14th birthday. I went home earlier to give her a nice present that I polished, and she said that it was very beautiful. I am glad that she likes the present. Seeing Lumina smile brings light to my world." Levy read to herself in a calm manner, intrigued by that.

The previous pages mentioned how the writer of the diary was mining with her husband and other employees who worked at their company, unearthing something that was very breathtaking, but there wasn't anything specific about what had been found. Levy could guess that the writer was trying to keep it vague at this early point in their entries, not wanting anyone from a rivaling mining company to truly know all of the details, so she decided to just keep translating every single page of the diary to find out about more this person's life.

Today's issue of the newspaper was on a table behind Levy, but she did not care to read it right now. She turned to a new page in the diary with black runes that weren't translated yet, and Levy would do her best to figure out this information. She smiled while thinking that it would be nice reading material for Lucy to have on a day off from work, and it seemed like today would be a great day for everyone. Well, let's just say that it was actually going to be a pretty fun day for someone who wanted to finally have some fun.

* * *

 **30 minutes later, at the Sabertooth guild...**

After Lucy assisted Sting with organizing the rest of the files, she sat down with him and the others at the table. Kira handed Lucy the envelope with her name on it while she held the envelope with her own name on it in her hands, and both girls were feeling surprised at how they got these envelopes. They slowly opened them up at the same time, ready to see what was sent to them, and Lucy shockingly pulled out a black piece of paper that was neatly folded. Kira pulled out a red piece of paper from her envelope, and she unfolded it.

Lucy unfolded the black paper as well to see that the text was elegantly written in a white color, and her brown eyes began to scan the contents of the letter. She smiled softly at how the letter spoke of Samantha inviting her to see the fashion company's ultimate celebration at the top of the tower, and the fashion designer also wanted Lucy to work as a model for a while. The letter also informed Lucy that she would get to wear some of the company's newest clothes, along with appearing in a commercial later on, and that made Lucy cheer with delight.

Kira's red letter that was elegantly written in black writing also informed her that she would be allowed at the top of the tower as well, but Samantha would require her fiery services on the first floor. Kira felt somewhat shocked by how Samantha told her to show off Fire Magic with hot redness like the Fire Crystal, and the red-haired merchant seemed amazed at how Samantha wrote that red was the first color on the spectrum of beauty. That was quite an interesting thing to say, and Samantha's letter even told Kira that she'd need to show off her best flames.

As Lucy happily cheered about how she'd get to see Fiore from the top of Samantha's fashion company, Kira calmly walked over to where the black letter was located. She looked down at it to see the last two sentences that were written by Samantha, and Kira would be glad to read them. Her hazel eyes saw that Samantha only talked about looking forward to seeing Lucy ascend to the top of the tower with mastery, and Lucy was instructed to bring the Rainbow Crystals with her. Kira felt that something more than a festival was in Samantha's plans, but what could it be?

"Lucy, you have to bring along the Rainbow Crystals and the book. This seems really exciting." Kira nicely told Lucy while picking up the black letter and showing it to her.

The Celestial Spirit Wizard responded with a confident grin on her face, thinking about the festival, "Samantha probably needs me to make fireworks in different colors, too. This day will certainly not be forgotten, since it's pretty historic for her company."

Kira asked her in a curious tone, wondering about one sentence in the letter, "Lucy, how will you ascend the tower with masterful skill? Why would Samantha include that?"

Lucy put a finger to her lips while trying to think of a logical reason for Samantha to include something like that, but she merely shrugged it off while thinking that the fashion designer was talking about climbing some staircases in a fancy. Famous individuals did have to write some things in a fancy manner, after all, and a high-class person like Samantha Kalos would not do anything that seemed rather bland. Either way, just thinking about what Samantha wrote would not be better than directly asking her about it at the top of the tower.

With that settled, Lucy decided to pick up her mint green book that was on a nearby chair. She felt pretty happy about getting to enjoy a nice party with Samantha Kalos, and Lucy could even get the newest fashion tips from her. Kira gave Rogue a soft smile while she felt like they could just enjoy the festivities on the first floor until Kira needed to show off her Fire Magic, and she also decided to check her attire. She wore her favorite red T-shirt with brown shorts and brown boots to match, and Kira thought that she could definitely fit in with the other guests.

The group's conversation earned Kira a snobbish look from Minerva, who would not want to see someone who she perceived to have tacky tastes in fashion, and the black-haired woman would just stay at the guild to keep anyone from causing problems while Sting was gone. Minerva merely sat down at a nearby table while drinking a cup of hot tea, and she scoffed in an annoyed manner while looking at the newspaper. In Minerva's eyes, the fact that someone was giving Samantha an article in the newspaper while ignoring her personal success on many recent jobs was downright rude.

That was probably a bit of karma for how Minerva told Samantha that she could make stupid earrings, and she felt like Samantha's new fame was a slap in the face to Sabertooth's greatness. Her green eyes also caught sight of Kira bumping the table and making an envelope, bending over in front of Rogue to pick it up, and the sight of a small fly calmly on Kira's rear made Minerva wonder what would happen. She watched the fly slowly walk on Kira's rear, only for Rogue to slap his left hand down on one of her cheeks for the purpose of crushing the fly, and that made Rogue blush in a flustered manner while Kira turned around to face him with a flirty smile.

"Whoa, Rogue. Don't try to make our relationship move that fast. You must want to rub sunscreen on me at the beach someday, so you're trying to get your hands ready before that day." Kira said to him with a smile on her face and assumed, giggling at what he just did.

Rogue replied as his cheeks blushed bubblegum pink, not even having those thoughts right now, "I'm not thinking about that, Kira! A fly landed on you, so I just smacked it. You're beautiful and cool, but I think a date at the beach should come later."

Frosch cutely added while looking carefree, "Fro thinks so, too!"

Kira playfully asked Frosch if she would look fashionable in a red bikini, and the green Exceed told her that she would look very pretty. That caused Kira to giggle while Rogue still looked flustered, and Sting wondered when the group would walk out of the guildhall. Even though Kira would heal Sting and Rogue to keep them from experiencing motion sickness during the train ride, the light dragon slayer wanted to reach the party before they ran out of food. Unless Samantha ordered a large buffet of good food, Sting would just look forward to being by Lucy's side at the fashion company's pinnacle.

As Lucy and Sting walked out of the guildhall while Rogue proceeded to walk behind them, Kira still thought about how she'd have to do some work on the first floor. She hoped that some models would want to learn Fire Magic, and she'd probably just teach them how to have some strong fire spells that were on a basic level. After all, the red-haired girl did want her most powerful spells of Fire Magic to be used against the person who she really wanted to fight against. Even though that was in Kira's mind, joining Samantha in the festivities was still her top priority for today.

* * *

 **Three hours later, in the town of Nurie...**

The mages from Sabertooth arrived in the town of Nurie, a place that certainly showed off its wealth by having lots of tall skyscrapers, and this town also had cafes on one side of the central street. Restaurants that served other foods were on the other side of that same street, and Sting could smell all the good food. There was even a museum of classical art on an adjacent street which was something that Rogue was interested in checking out, and the street on the far-right contained the fashion district where Samantha Kalos resided.

The street on the far-left featured many skyscrapers where the town's residents lived, as well as a music store and a toy store, and there was even an arena solely for electronic music to be played at the nightly raves. The teenagers in this town would hold those raves while keeping the noise level to where the Magic Council would not receive complaints, and they were also responsible for selling glow sticks and platform shoes of many colors in the central plaza that could be reached from any of the five streets. (Remember the rave clothing from Chapter 21? Well, you now know it comes from Nurie Town.)

Lucy and the other protagonists nearly walked out of the train station that had a brown tiled floor, but they soon encountered a stern and tall man with messy brown hair while he wore a black business suit with black pants to match. He stuck out his left hand, almost like he demanded to see something, and Lucy calmly handed him the letter written by Samantha Kalos. His purple eyes scanned the letter while he frowned, but seeing Samantha's very recognizable signature made him hand the letter back to Lucy before stepping aside. The protagonists all proceeded to walk on to the town's ground that was paved in asphalt, and they thankfully got past the guard.

Upon seeing the city, Lucy wondered which street would take them to Samantha's company. The street in between the central road and the path on the far-left was a business district, but those skyscrapers were for people who specialized in accounting or computer software. Lucy glanced at the street on the far-right, seeing a clothing store, and her cocoa brown eyes soon looked up to see the tall black skyscraper from the newspaper. It had Samantha's initials on all four sides of it, signifying that it was her company, and Lucy confidently smiled.

"Well, her company is in the eastern part of the town. Let's go there, everybody!" Lucy happily told her friends, before running off towards the fashionable area of Nurie.

Sting replied in a cocky manner as he applied White Dragon Slayer Magic to his feet, "I'll have fun racing you all there! In fact, I'll taste all that food first!"

Before anyone else could run, Sting ran down the street at extremely high speeds! Lucy ran after him while focusing the Wind Magic into her feet, and Kira was right beside her as both girls ran at rapid speeds. They managed to dodge several civilians who were startled by them, and one woman who was holding a briefcase even shouted that the wizards must've been those crazy people from Fairy Tail. She was completely wrong, but Rogue didn't mind that as he ran past her to catch up with his hasty friends. Samantha didn't even set a time for the party, so Rogue felt like they didn't have to hurry as if they were incredibly late.

The protagonists went straight to the street where the fashion stores were located, before going straight down to reach the black building, and they soon curved north to reach the front steps of the building. Their presence surprised a red-haired woman who looked similar to Cana while she stood outside of the building in a red dress that resembled the one Jenny Realight wore when Lucy first saw her in Crocus, and this woman had eyes that were pink like tulips. Her high heels were black while she had fair skin, and this woman nearly jumped from seeing Sting be close to her face.

Lucy and Kira were also quick to get near her, but they soon backed away. The woman folded her arms while wanting them to state their reason for being here, and she gently let her left hand touch her long red hair. Lucy informed her that they came to Nurie Town for the purpose of seeing Samantha Kalos, and Lucy proceeded to hand her the black letter. This woman gently took it from her and read it, before her eyes glanced up at Lucy to see who she was, but her eyes soon glanced at Kira. The model began to smile, and she walked towards the black doors that automatically slid apart from each other.

The group followed her inside while she introduced herself as Mayumi Tsukuru, and this woman was also working as the company's receptionist today. Due to it being the company's anniversary, some employees took the day off or left town to have fun in other parts of Fiore. They left their work to the remaining employees, and it was strange for Sting to see this model go behind the lavender desk that had a blue Lacrima Data Crystal on top of it. She gently tapped the Lacrima Communications Crystal for it to turn on, and she saw Samantha's office while no one appeared to be sitting in her black chair.

"I'm sorry, but Samantha is not here right now. I think she's out somewhere in Fiore to deliver the sad news that some models must be fired. It sucks, but she always does it at this point when her recent selection process is finished." Mayumi told Lucy in a regretful tone, looking very apologetic.

Lucy responded in a disappointed tone, taking out the pearl pink case from her skirt's right pocket and opening it up, "Well, that's a shame. I guess we'll wait, Mayumi. I was hoping that we could polish these and make them shine to where they'd-"

Mayumi exclaimed in a shocked tone, looking at the crystals that were lined up in the colors of a rainbow, "Wait, you're Lucy Heartfilia from the Grand Magic Games! Now I remember you and your friends from Sabertooth! You're here for our president's event known as Rainbow Mastery, and getting all seven crystals means that you're officially qualified for it!"

Lucy looked pretty puzzled at what the model just said, as Samantha never told her anything about that, but Mayumi chose to explain everything. When a wizard found all seven crystals, they earned the right to enter the Rainbow Mastery. The event would take Lucy to the very top of the tower if she was very successful, but she would have to get through the Elite Seven. As the name implied, they were seven strong mages who actually came here at Samantha's request. Well, six of them actually showed up before Lucy and her friends got to Nurie Town.

Lucy nicely asked Mayumi if she could have any details on them, already thinking ahead, but the red-haired model told her that the seventh person hadn't even arrived yet. The model further told Lucy that she would go through the doorway that was to the right of the reception desk, and a platform would lift her up to help her reach the first staircase that would be climbed. Lucy would need to walk up that staircase and go through the doorway to reach her first opponent, so she closed the pearl pink case. She put it back into her skirt's pocket while proceeding to walk up to a doorway, but Mayumi told her to not be so hasty.

She reiterated her claim that the first opponent for Lucy was not here yet, and that person would be in that room on the first floor for the battle. Lucy didn't feel like standing around forever to wait for that person, so Mayumi did have the decency to touch the Lacrima Data Crystal and rub it downward to a file section for the purpose of showing Lucy who Samantha chose as her first opponent. The light blue Lacrima Vision screen soon appeared in midair while it showed a picture of Lucy smiling on the left side, but the sight of her opponent's photo appearing on the right side made the Sabertooth mages all gasp in shock.

Rogue watched Kira's hands shake slightly as she took out the red folded letter from the left pocket of her brown shorts, opening it up for Mayumi to see, and Mayumi calmly announced that the girl's name was Kira Blazia. She spoke of how that invitation was proof of her being invited into the Elite Seven to show off her hottest flames, but Mayumi soon looked at the atmosphere. Lucy and Kira gave each other pretty surprised looks while they stood across from each other, feeling like they were truly now on opposite sides, and Lector shook slightly as he understood the situation.

"Wow. Out of all the mages for Lucy-san or Kira-san to face in Fiore, they must face each other." Lector calmly said while still looking shocked, even though he wasn't as surprised as Sting or Rogue.

Lucy said aloud as she looked pretty surprised, understanding the situation, "In order to reach the top, I have to fight Kira. Wow..."

Kira replied as she made herself walk to the doorway on the left, still looking shocked, "Lucy, we finally get to battle... It's seriously me versus you.. Wow.."

The two friends were very shocked to finally face each other, one looking forward to this day while the other was surprised that she would have to battle her teammates, but could they really put their skills and their friendship to the ultimate test? Kira softly clenched her fists as she thought about how Lucy was so strong, really liking how she just kept improving and became more tactical as time went on, and she felt like Lucy was the best person who could serve as her friend and rival at the same time. At least their rivalry was healthy.

Lucy narrowed her eyes as she began to think about how Kira was so very strong, using her spells of Fire Magic in very creative ways, and her fight against Kagura had really amazed Lucy. In fact, her facial expression at the time said what Lucy herself could not say with words. She never thought Kira was at that level with her Fire Magic, having fought quite hard against Kagura like how Lucy fought hard against Jenny, but this fight between them could be different. This time, there could be something more important to lose than just a match. Could they really push each other to fight at the highest level with their best skills and tactics?

* * *

 **At the same time, in the Nurie Highlands...**

Jenny Realight had returned to Nurie Town for the task of investigating something weird that was going on the highlands that were north of the town, and she walked around in the mountainous area while hoping to actually see what was wrong. Blue Pegasus received another flyer about this matter, and the client spoke of how they only heard the sounds of a woman screaming. That puzzled Jenny, since there appeared to not be any caves in this area, and the grey mountain walls looked pretty normal while the grey ground on the path back to Nurie Town looked normal as well.

The blonde-haired woman sighed softly while thinking that she would never be able to finish this job, as this wide area of the highlands with mountainous walls supposedly had no secrets involved, and Jenny looked down one of the rocky ledges while she gently stomped her left foot on a part of the ground that had a crack in it. The energy coming up from below actually softened this part of the ground to where it could easily break, and two more of Jenny's stomps caused the ground around her to break apart entirely. She fell down into a hole, before harshly hitting the ground, and Jenny rubbed her rear while it felt sore from that fall.

"Ouch. That fall was unexpected. Wait, what is this place?" Jenny said and asked softly while wincing in pain, her purple dress stained by some of the dirt.

Jenny heard a familiar say in a delighted tone from up ahead, before they giggled in a sadistic manner, "It's even more beautiful than you, so deal with being fired. I called you here to tell you that I no longer need you as a model, but that magical power needs to be taken from you. I'm glad you hate me so much and saw what just happened to the others, so suffer the same fate!"

"No, please! Don't slam my head against the-" The model exclaimed and pleaded, before screaming in agony from making contact with something.

Jenny was surprised to hear that first voice belong to Samantha Kalos, and she took some quiet steps forward for the purpose of seeing what was going on in the larger room. Jenny walked through the dark path to reach its doorway, and she nearly gasped in shock from the sight of what was going on. She did not even want to move an inch, refusing to let this fashion designer be alerted to her presence, but Jenny would definitely want her to explain herself. In fact, she really wondered why Samantha told no wizards who were participating in the ancient challenge about this.

In the middle of this room where weak amounts of light shined down through some cracks in the ground, there was a black rhombus-shaped object. It appeared to be different than the Rainbow Crystals while it firmly stood in a one of the ground's cracks, and black beams of light shined from it. To Samantha, these dark beams of energy were very alluring. The model who she just spoke to was held by her neck as she was slammed against the black crystal, a dark aura engulfing her body, and Samantha inhaled every bit of that dark aura as well.

As Samantha felt strength go into her body, she smirked at seeing her skin color turn from being pale grey to being a fair tone. The model's skin turned grey while even her stamina was being drained, and her eyes soon lost their pupils while she fell to the ground. She was not breathing, but that was not as dark as seeing some models be shackled to the wall behind the crystal while they groaned from starvation. These women were going through abuse as punishment, and the light from the black crystal was capable of severely weakening them because of how they were so close to it.

Jenny soon saw Samantha create a large black orb of magic to fire at the crystal, looking hateful while she put all of her malice into this attack, and the black orb was soon absorbed by the crystal. It let out more black beams of light while making the shackled models feel intense pain, and all of the absorbed hatred was like energy for the crystal. Samantha fired three more powerful spells at it, watching them create explosions while she wasn't even panting, and the explosions shook the ground enough for Jenny to loudly scream from losing her balance. Samantha had annoyance in her grey eyes from hearing the woman behind her, and she soon gave her an evil smile.

"Well, well, well. Jenny Realight, a model who experienced the feeling of rejection from me and came back like a pest. I don't know how you found this place, but I can't let you leave." Samantha told her with a vicious smirk on her face, before slowly walking towards the woman from Blue Pegasus.

Jenny asked Samantha in a shocked tone, seeing six other models on the floor beside the one who just got drained to death, "What in the world is going on here? Samantha, how could you do things like this?"

The fashion designer explained calmly as she folded her arms, starting to smile, "Well, I'm just giving a good amount of strength to this crystal. It still needs much more power to reach the higher levels, though, but I'm quite good at controlling dark energy. As for those pawns on the ground, I couldn't fire them without parting ways on a darkened note. When a woman needs more magical power and replenished beauty, she merely takes it all by force."

Jenny told her while looking startled, before starting to narrow her eyes, "Everyone sees you as a role model, Samantha. Girls see you as an idol, and even I saw you as a great person to work for. I've seen how your designs are great, but now I see that you're-"

Samantha cut her off while coldly responding, realizing the situation, "Jenny, you mouthy girl. You've seen far too much. I've got to dispose of you."

As the fashion designer snapped her fingers to make dark voids appear beneath the models on the ground, Jenny watched them be pulled down into the darkness. Samantha turned to face them while stretching out her left hand, and she clenched that fist when the models were completely down in the darkness. Jenny could hear explosions occur while the voids of darkness soon closed, and a drop of sweat fell from her forehead while she soon decided to start running away. Samantha wouldn't let her escape from this place, however.

Jenny felt Samantha aggressively grab her left arm with her right hand, and black energy surrounded Samantha's left fist. She focused her magical power into it, charging it up to a high level, and Samantha struck Jenny with an extremely powerful punch to her stomach! Jenny soon gasped while coughing up blood, but the dark strength in that attack made her lose consciousness. She fell forward with her eyes having no pupils, not even able to lift a finger, but Samantha did catch her by the waist. She was proud to be rid of the pest, but Jenny's blonde hair caught her eye.

Samantha plucked out one of her foe's beautiful blonde hairs, liking how it was as beautiful as her own hair, but the thought of seven girls being on the ground made the fashion designer wonder if a certain female with seven crystals would reach her. Samantha walked towards the black crystal while Jenny's body fall to the floor, and she wondered if a certain legend would ruin her plans. She would not have Lucy be a pawn like her models. Instead, Samantha desired to see if that girl could wield the crystals better than she did all those years ago.

She gently placed her hand on the black crystal while choosing to warp out of these ruins with it, and Samantha already set up a nice altar for it at the top of her company. If Lucy managed to get up there and lose, then Samantha would gladly be able to release the crystal's power to its full extent. Only the people in her family knew about this black crystal, mainly her mother, and Samantha felt quite glad that it was the lovely inspiration for her hair clips. Samantha's blonde hair was certainly complimented by the dark hair clips, and she was content with being revered as a fashion idol of light while also being the ancient challenge's champion with a dark attitude underneath her facade.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 40? Many exciting things certainly happened here, and the time has finally arrived for Kira and Lucy to face each other. As for Sting and Rogue, they won't sit around and do nothing in this arc. The history in this arc is actually important for the Rainbow Crystals, and the Elite Seven will certainly surprise Lucy. This story is just so exciting, and feel free to tell me your thoughts on it!**


	41. Chapter 41

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Flames of Passion & The Fiery Friends**

* * *

Lucy walked through the doorway to see the first set of white stairs, and the thin stairs were lined with a red railing. Lucy wasted no time with climbing up the stairs, wanting to express her shock at the match-up to Kira, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard did not want to fight her best friend. Lucy narrowed her eyes as she thought that Samantha made a mistake by having her start this challenge against the Elite Seven by fighting Kira, and a look of uncertainty soon appeared on Lucy's face. Even with her best spells, could she seriously win against Kira?

She reached the top step pretty quickly while seeing the doorway that led into a large room with a cherry red floor, and the room up ahead had red walls to match. Lucy slowly walked towards the doorway while having her right fist clenched, and she really felt like this fight was something that needed to happen later. Lucy never imagined that Kira would be the first major opponent for her to face after the Grand Magic Games, and she walked through the doorway to be in the room. The red doors behind her quickly slid together to close, and they would not open until somebody emerged victorious.

Kira walked into the room from the other side, and the fact that her look of shock soon changed into a soft smile was something that made Lucy's cocoa brown eyes widen greatly. Two best friends were about to battle, but Kira was smiling? Lucy couldn't see how the red-haired merchant could start to even look optimistic about this situation, and she soon set her mint green spell book down on the ground. She took out the pearl pink case from her skirt to use the Fire Crystal on the book, and Lucy hastily placed the red crystal on the book's front cover.

As the book's color changed from being green to red, Kira could see that Lucy looked like she did not want to fight. The doors behind Kira closed as well, and the look of uncertainty on Lucy's face made Kira give her a stern look. They were finally going to fight, finally having their battle, and Kira felt the warmth in her body rise to where it felt like flames of passion. She was looking forward to this fight, and Kira did not want Lucy to hold anything back. In fact, she hoped that this first battle between them would be their best one ever.

"Lucy, listen to me. After you earned the Requiem Crystal in Mumargi Town, I felt like we were equal in terms of strength. I only wanted to battle you when we were at the same level, and seeing you awesomely succeed against Jenny in the Grand Magic Games only made me feel more fired up to fight you. I'll only permit you to use Fire Magic, but I won't absorb it like this is a playful fight. If you want to win, fight me seriously!" Kira explained to Lucy in a stern manner, before demanding that she fight hard.

The book-wielding wizard replied nicely with a soft smile, acknowledging the situation, "Our skills with Fire Magic aren't even on equal levels, Kira. I might lose, and-"

"Don't talk like that, Lucy! You should be just as psyched for this as I am, especially since we'll get to see who's stronger! You didn't worry about the level of your Water Magic when Jenny used those sound waves, so bring it on! Show me the power of your Fire Magic, Lucy! Show me how powerful you've gotten since the first day we met, and put that clever brain into those flames! Get psyched!" Kira told her while looking stern, speaking in a pretty encouraging tone.

As Lucy put the pink case back into her skirt's pocket, Kira's words made her start to feel more confident about this. If she was demanding a good fight, then how could Lucy be her friend and deny that request? Lucy's eyes were soon filled with determination while she didn't intend to hold back, and she also felt glad that Kira gave her that boost of encouragement. In fact, Lucy was glad to start off this fight with the move known as Fire Ball. Lucy shot out a red ball of fire from her mouth, liking how it was now twice the size of her hand, and the ball quickly headed towards Kira. The quirky girl blocked the projectile by hitting it with a fireball of her own, however.

Kira unleashed the spell called Cherished Flame, and a red beam of flames emerged from her mouth. The attack was blocked by Lucy using the Magma Shield spell, though, and that shield bent slightly backward. The dark red shield shaped like a flame with a pink flame emblem in its center soon bent outward, and the flames simply exploded. The recent collision of fireballs also made an explosion occur, and Lucy's shield soon broke apart. Training with Fire Magic prior to the Grand Magic Games had been a wise thing for Lucy to do, but her spells were still just evenly matched with Kira's.

That changed when Kira used Flaming Lava Burst, though, and she shot out six large flames from her mouth. Five of them were aimed at the ceiling while the last one was aimed straight at Lucy, and the first five explosions were quite large! They made flames fall from the sky to create many red-hot puddles of lava, and Kira made some of those flames go down towards Lucy! She was caught in the fiery explosions while activating her third spell that was known as Fiery Shot, and Lucy managed to use it before screaming in pain.

She simply shot out a large beam of fire from her mouth, and that attack went through the last flame that was about to hit Lucy. It absorbed Kira's large flame while heading towards her, growing in size, and Lucy felt like using the Fire Ball spell three more times to give Fiery Shot more power. The fireballs hit her attack, making its power grow even more, and the sight of a large fiery explosion made Lucy feel like that was a pretty hot combo. The explosion's force shook her enough to make the red book fly out of her hands, and Lucy fell down while seeing how it went straight into the powerful flames!

"Oh, no! The book!" Lucy exclaimed with a horrified facial expression, seeing it get completely engulfed by the flames before falling into a pool of lava.

Kira told Lucy in an impressed manner while the red smoke revealed that her skin was charred brown from that attack, "Well, I wasn't expecting you to be that good with Fire Magic. I'm about to really heat things up, Lucy."

"One moment, Kira." Lucy kindly told her, as she ran to retrieve the book from the hot lava.

Much to the shock of Lucy and Kira, the book was merely engulfed in a large ball of flames while it appeared to be taking no damage. Even the back of it was not being burnt away by the volcanic lava, but that was not the main surprise. As Lucy stuck her left hand in the flames to touch the red-hot book, she and Kira both gasped from seeing the flames getting absorbed into the book. All of that fire and heat appeared to be good for Lucy's spell book, her Fire Magic suddenly getting intensely hot, but Lucy still kept a strong grip on the book.

She managed to open it up to the section where Fire Magic was located, and more seven spells were written in cherry red text! Kira's flames and lava must've been hot enough to charge up the Fire Magic around Lucy's book to a pretty high level, and a red aura began to surround the spell book. Just like when Kira used Hino's Flame Charge, Lucy now felt like the battle could get heated up to the point where the flames could be crazily powerful. As she looked at her first spell and its description, Lucy could only follow that up by giving Kira a proud smile that showed her determination to win. Lucy's Fire Magic evolved, but what did she learn?

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Levy continued to decipher more of the pages in the brown book that was ragged, and the blue-haired girl smiled softly from how the entries kept getting more interesting. The index finger of her left hand was on a page that talked about black shards, gems that were rhombus-shaped, and the writer of this diary was fascinated by their black color. Levy seemed pretty amazed to hear that they were useful for weakening an enemy's magic, as well as being good items to sell for high prices, and her brown eyes shifted to the next page.

She saw that the next entry was roughly a month later, and the diary's writer spoke of how the dark shards surprisingly absorbed energy. They could be struck by different types of magic, only to absorb the energy, and that was amazing. Even using a large fireball on a dark shard would just cause the flames to get absorbed into the dark shard, but it would give off a major amount of heat that felt quite hellish. It seemed that the dark shard amplified the power of the magic that it absorbed, but Levy seemed quite surprised to hear that the writer's husband didn't produce that same result when he used his magic.

Her husband's Fire Magic was strong, but maybe his failure to produce the black heat waves resulted from how he felt pretty happy to test it out. The woman writing the diary felt quite frustrated at how she couldn't put endless amounts of Fire Magic into just one dark shard, but her emotions went into her magic and they were always shown through the intense waves of heat that emerged from the black crystal. Levy decided to turn to the next page that she managed to decipher, and her eyes were narrowed at what she read.

During the mining that went on in the Nurie Highlands, some members of the excavation team went out to Emblaze Island. One of them returned with a red crystal, the one that was known as the Fire Crystal, and its beautiful red color was so intriguing to the mother of Lumina. In fact, she actually wished that the present for her daughter's fourteenth birthday had been the red crystal. As she took it from her co-worker and walked near the black crystals, however, something began to make her feel somewhat unsettled.

"November 5th, X789. As I looked at the dark shards, my eyes widened from sensing their strength was beginning to weaken. Is it because of the red crystal that I held out near them? It has the beauty of a lovely red rose, and this crystal came from Emblaze Island. I must inform Lumina of this, as she enjoys studying history. Maybe she can find other crystals that are similar to the one that is red like fire." Levy read aloud in a calm manner as she began to realize something crucial.

If these black crystals were affected by the Rainbow Crystals, then it was strange for them to not be part of the ancient challenge. Even though black was not a color in the rainbow, it would've made more sense to have all eight crystals in the ancient challenge. Lucy only had seven, and no one was ever informed of an eighth one existing. Whoever popularized the ancient challenge in this current year most likely did that on purpose, just so they could have the black crystals to themselves without having to see anyone else get ahead of them.

That was Levy's personal theory, anyway, and she put her finger to her lips as her right hand turned to the next page. She got to see that the next entry spoke of the company itself, and this entry was dated one month after the discovery of the Fire Crystal. Levy smiled from reading that the chilly days of winter came around while it was snowing in Fiore, and this also took place during the seven-year period where Fairy Tail's main members went missing. Winter and the changing times were not good for the mining business, however.

Apparently, magic was getting immense popularity in Fiore while mining was soon becoming a trivial thing of the past. Several investors also thought that the discovery of many black crystals in the Nurie Ruins made them be more worthless than rare, and some people who extracted magical power from the dark shards began to act very hostile. It was almost like they were overtaken by darkness or malice that they couldn't handle, and several of those people led to the mining company's fall. The proud company that excavated gold and other precious gems several times had fallen to pieces.

The woman went back into the ruins with the hostile miners, going rather deep into the caves, and she found an amazing sight. There was a large dark crystal stuck in one of the ground's cracks, and she needed to get close to it. Her workers ran up to it, however, and they spoke of feeling hatred flowing from the crystal. It almost seemed like the black crystal fed on feelings of malice or dark intentions, but just touching the crystal led to the workers having all their magic power extracted. Their Ethernano was taken away at a rapid pace, along with that dark energy, and what Levy assumed to have happened was actually in the writer's entry.

"December 6, X789. My co-workers have all died from magic deficiency disease. I had heard about this from my husband, who is at home with Lumina, but I never thought I'd actually see it happen. Despite this, Lumina has been wanting to see the black crystal. There is no official name for it, but I'll be happy to have it at the ceremony next year. By the way, she's interested in magic and clothing now. Apparently, that came from how she likes the different colors of crystals that she found on her own." Levy read in a stunned manner while looking pretty shocked at these revelations.

The diary entry on the next page was dated one year later, but Levy chose not to read that right now. Instead, she turned her attention to the fact that Makarov sent Gray out on a mission that had to be handled in the town of Eisetsu. The wizard with black hair initially refused the idea of going there, since that was Clair's town, but Makarov informed him that the best mages from the Winter Snowflake guild were out on missions right now. With no one powerful around to defend the town, how could Gray even have a choice in refusing?

Levy watched Gray and Makarov talk near the request board, and the guild master handed Gray a flyer while also telling him that he'd approve of him taking an S-Class job this one time. The job came with the nice reward of 500,000 jewels, and Hayato would be the client. The blue-haired butler would probably give that money to Gray when he got back from the mission he needed to handle with Clair, and Gray hoped that their trouble was more than just having coffees that weren't cold enough to drink. Maybe he'd have to be the instructor for Ice-Make Magic, if he got that lucky.

* * *

 **Back at the fashion company...**

Sting and Lector were wondering how Lucy and Kira were doing in their fight, but Rogue went up the stairs that were to the left of the ground floor. He went up those stairs to catch up with Frosch, who chose to wander up to the first floor, and the shadow dragon slayer noticed that the walls were cherry red. The tiled floor was in a regular shade of red while Rogue could see his reflection in the floor, and the doors were open for Rogue to see that this floor was mainly for some models who were taking up the task of giving design ideas to Samantha.

He watched Frosch walk down the corridor while ignoring the rooms that were filled with clothes that Samantha approved for earlier releases, and Rogue narrowed his eyes from seeing a black security camera on the corner point of two nearby walls. Samantha was actually the person who would monitor the halls of her company to make sure that no one unauthorized was in the room for files or data on the newest designs, but she was not in her office right now to even be watching the surveillance monitors. That gave Frosch and Rogue some time to explore this floor of the company.

The green Exceed playfully ran down the corridor to turn a corner while Rogue told him to not go off on his own, and the sight of Frosch being cute made some models think he was an adorable cat on an authorized tour of the fashion company. Rogue hoped that Frosch would not run into a security guard, but he turned the corner to see red sliding doors that were closed. They were on the right side of the hall while orange doors were on the left side, and Rogue took note of that. As he turned to face Frosch and see that he found a room near the next set of regular stairs, however, Rogue narrowed his eyes.

There was a hole below the gold doorknob of the brown wooden door, and Frosch managed to squeeze through it. He gently put his hands on the doorknob, turning it to the right, and the door opened up for Rogue. This door could only be opened from the inside if anyone other than Samantha didn't have the gold key that fit in the lock, and Rogue walked into the room to see that it looked somewhat abandoned while the lighting was not fully bright. This room had a desk with a chair, and a white folder was on the grey desk. There was a grey filing cabinet that had a red Lacrima Data Crystal on top of it, too.

"What could this be?" Rogue calmly asked aloud, as he opened up the white folder.

Frosch replied as he looked surprised, recognizing those pictures, "Rogue, we've seen some of those places!"

Rogue responded calmly as he looked at some stapled papers that were next to the pictures, "It seems like this is a report on the Rainbow Crystals. Someone was looking for them, and they even took pictures of the crystals while they were in their locations."

Frosch nicely told him that something important like that shouldn't be left lying around, and that made Rogue frown as he seemed somewhat suspicious. It certainly was dubious for the folder to be in a place like this, especially since the door would normally be locked, and the date on that report let Rogue know that those pictures were taken in the previous year. He looked pretty surprised to see Electric Crystals in a cave of electrically-charged stones, and some Requiem Crystals were in the swamps that separated Mumargi from Tsukiari.

There was even a photo of some Earth Crystals being dug up from the hot sand in the Haina Desert, and the shadow dragon slayer also got to see a photo that featured the inner rooms of the Astral Ruins. The pink Starry Crystals were found in some brown treasure chests that were smashed open, and there was even a photo of a Cerulean Crystal in Lake Eichi. Whoever took all these pictures of the Rainbow Crystals certainly intended on finding them, but why did a fashion company president like Samantha not put the file back?

Rogue decided to put the folder in the left desk drawer to keep any of Samantha's rivals from easily taking it, and he left the room with Frosch. Rogue closed the door behind him, and he felt like it would be a good idea to go tell Sting about this. The fact that someone was doing research on the Rainbow Crystals and even talked about their types of magic in that report had been something that bothered him, and Rogue frowned at the fact of how it was kept in a room that hadn't been fully bright. On top of that, the door could only open from the inside unless someone could access it from outside.

He went back down the corridor with Frosch on his left shoulder, but Rogue could feel the heat coming from the room where Lucy and Kira were fighting. That was why this floor seemed pretty hot, and Rogue felt like it was crazy that Lucy had to fight Kira. He personally hoped that his girlfriend would win, though, and the flames of Kira's Fire Magic would never be looked down upon by him. As Rogue recalled his conversation with Kira in the park about her desire to fight Lucy, Frosch decided to ease the tension in the situation.

"Do you think Kira-san would've enjoyed seeing those files?" Frosch asked Rogue nicely, not caring that the camera captured their every step down the corridor.

Rogue replied kindly, smiling a bit, "She certainly would've had something to say about them."

As Rogue continued to walk, Frosch asked him if they could stay to greet Kira. It would probably be good to wait for her and Lucy to finish their fight, and Frosch would be happy for both of them. To the green Exceed, it would not really matter who won. Rogue smiled at Frosch's question as he did like the thought of hearing Kira say that the fight was great, and he would definitely give her a kiss on the lips. He was also glad that she got invited to join the Elite Seven, and Kira was also one of Sabertooth's seven strongest mages.

Rogue nodded at Frosch's suggestion, and he turned around to head back towards the red sliding doors. On his way back with Frosch, however, Rogue hoped that his friends were not trying to beat each other to a pulp. Even though Lucy and Kira were on opposite sides right now, Rogue would want them to just fight without intending to kill each other. He chose to ignore the security camera that recorded him walking up to the first floor, and Rogue probably needed to thank the heavens for it not recording anything else that just happened.

* * *

 **In the red room...**

Lucy felt confident enough to unleash the first new spell that was known as Magma Fireball, and this move caused an extremely large fireball to be fired from her mouth! It quickly struck Kira and created a massive burst of fire, but the red-haired merchant retaliated by inhaling most of the powerful flames. She activated Hino's Flame Charge while all of the Fire Magic made a red aura engulf her body, and Kira began spinning towards Lucy while she felt intent on winning this battle. With that spell activated, Kira was not messing around.

She slammed into Lucy, whose skin was also charred from getting hit with the fiery explosions earlier, but the blonde-haired girl retaliated with another new move known as Fiery Raging Punch. Lucy fell backwards from the force of Kira slamming into her, but she got back up to strike her friend with a barrage of ten flaming punches. Lucy's fists were engulfed in flames, and every punch that Kira felt was dense like tempered steel. The last of the ten punches sent Kira flying back against the wall, and she coughed up some blood.

Kira went down to the ground, before shooting out seven flames from her left hand, and they were in a straight line while heading towards Lucy at high speeds. The Celestial Spirit Wizard picked up her red book and used her third new spell of Fire Magic, but it would be pretty crazy. This move was known as Blazing Phoenix Flowers, and it caused a red vortex of fire to be unleashed from Lucy's mouth. Kira's flames struck the vortex to make it change into a large fireball, but that fireball exploded into many balls of fire that were half its size.

Several of them struck Kira with an intense amount of power, causing her to scream in pain, but she managed to catch one in her mouth. Kira spat it out in the form of a fiery beam, making this room be covered in many flames that went well with the red pools of lava, and Samantha's fashion company had magic infused in the damaged walls for them to repair themselves. Kira and Lucy both started to pant while looking at each other, seeing how they were both bruised, but Kira did not want this fight to end soon. In fact, she was enjoying it.

"You're definitely psyched up for this battle, Lucy. It's certainly igniting our passion to fight hard." Kira calmly told her as she smiled, before using Hino's Flame Charge again.

Lucy replied nicely while looking at Kira's hazel eyes, ready to fight, "I'm glad that this isn't like the practice fight we tried to have before in the park, Kira. Try to hit me with your best shot."

At that moment, Kira made flames engulf her fists. She struck one pool of bubbling lava to create a twister of flames that headed towards Lucy, and Kira did that three more times. The twisters of fire soon became red like the lava, absorbing its high amount of heat, but Lucy countered them by shooting five blobs of lava from her mouth. One of them hit each twister while Kira dodged the one aimed at her, and red blasts of Fire Magic quickly occurred! That spell was known as Lava Blaze, and Lucy's lava would explode when it hit something.

She moved on to the fifth spell that was called Volcanic Kick, and Lucy sent Fire Magic into her feet. She ran towards Kira at high speeds while lava got on the soles of her feet, and Lucy harshly struck Kira's chest while flames engulfed her left leg. Kira fell down to the ground, but she put her left hand on the ground while raising up her left foot to harshly kick Lucy in the stomach. Both girls were caught in fiery explosions while they flew backward, and those powerful kicks actually used the same amount of magic. Despite how their fiery spells varied, they were evenly matched.

Lucy called upon a new move known as Fiery Boutique, and this spell interesting combined fire with beauty. Small flames appeared on Lucy's fingernails, and she stretched her arms forward. Lucy soon shot out a large fireball that struck the small flames, and they became ten medium-sized vortexes of fire! Kira managed to block the fast projectiles by scooping up hot lava, though, and she used Fire Magic to make the boiling lava coat her hands. The lava on her hands blocked Lucy's vortexes while explosions transpired, but each vortex weakened the lava enough to where Kira's hands were pretty bruised and bloodied.

Lucy narrowed her brown eyes as she felt like this fight couldn't go on forever, and her seventh spell was known as Burning Fiery Blitz. This move caused Lucy to shoot out seven large fireballs, and she also began to move at high speeds! She shot out the fireballs one by one, aiming at Kira from seven different directions, and all of the fire in this room caused their strength to increase. Kira shot out a beam of fire from her mouth, liking how it tripled in size from touching two of Lucy's fireballs, but who would be the winner?

The fast attacks struck both girls at the same, creating fiery explosions that were loud enough to shake the first floor, and the intense amount of fire from Lucy's projectiles made the doors behind Kira be red-hot. Red clouds of smoke filled the room while the models in nearby rooms could also feel the high amount of heat, and lava also slowly spread out of the room. Kira and Lucy were both revealed to have charred skin while their clothes were badly torn with flames on their clothing as well, but Kira ended up falling down to her knees while she only had enough strength left for a healing spell.

"Well, it looks like I lost. After looking forward to fighting you, Lucy, I lost..." Kira said aloud as she started to look disappointed, knowing she was unable to continue.

Lucy replied in an exhausted manner as she also fell to her knees, "I think that we can call this a tie, if that's ok. After unleashing that spell, I can't fight anymore."

Kira told her with calmness in her voice, "Yeah, we can say this is a tie. Next time, we'll definitely get to see which one of us is stronger. It's a tie, but I enjoyed the battle enough to where you can move forward."

The hazel-eyed girl decided to strike Lucy with a red fireball that engulfed her body, but it made steam rise from her wounds while her charred skin started reverting to its original color. Kira scooped up some lava for herself to eat, trying to regain her own energy, and she began to stand up at the same time as Lucy. The red doors behind Kira slowly began to open, revealing that Rogue and Frosch were wanting to see what happened, and Lucy walked towards Kira while giggling cheerfully at how they got to have an amazing battle.

Challenging the next person in the Elite Seven would be nice for Lucy to do, but she and Kira looked at each other's clothes while thinking that they needed to change into outfits that weren't burnt. The blonde-haired girl proceeded to walk past Kira while she decided to check out the different rooms on this first floor of the fashion company, and Lucy looked down at her book while feeling like she became much stronger. Kira also felt herself gain strength from that tough battle, and she felt pretty glad about the day where Lucy literally ran into her.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 41? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. This story is getting exciting, but I won't reveal everything so quickly. I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed, favorited, and followed this story!**


	42. Chapter 42

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Earthy Intensity! Lucy vs. Shinji**

* * *

Lucy and Kira came out of one of the rooms on the first floor, and Rogue liked how his friends picked out some nice dresses. Lucy's dress was a strapless one in a regular shade of orange, and Kira wore a red dress with red lacing at the bottom of it. Kira's dress showed off some cleavage while Lucy's dress didn't show off as much of it, and both girls had their hair down. Even though they looked really beautiful, beauty wasn't exactly the most crucial thing for Lucy to be concerned about in this challenge to reach the top of Samantha's fashion company.

The pearl pink case was in her right hand while the red book was in her left hand, and Lucy made her book's bottom-right corner gently make contact with the Earth Crystal. Lucy's book now became orange for her to use Earth Magic, and its color matched the doors that were on the left side of this corridor. They were directly across from the doors that Kira initially went through, and Lucy closed the pink case to put it in the right pocket of her dress. She proceeded to walk up to those doors, seeing them open up to reveal another set of white stairs, and Lucy wondered who her next opponent would be.

As she walked up the white stairs and looked pretty confident, Lucy wondered if she would have to fight Jura. That man was one of Lamia Scale's strongest mages, and he had the honor of being the fifth-strongest Wizard Saint in Fiore. Even though he lost to Laxus in the Grand Magic Games of X791, Jura would still be quite a strong opponent. Despite hating the idea of facing someone like him, Lucy would fight to the best of her ability. She felt ready to use this Earth Magic, knowing how it was very strong, and Lucy quickly got to the top step.

She went through the orange doorway to see that this large room had an orange floor with light brown walls to match, and Lucy's brown eyes took notice of large brown rocks being on both sides of the room to make it look somewhat similar to a canyon. She saw some smaller rocks crumbling on the floor, watching them turn into small piles of sand, but that little detail went well with someone who used Earth Magic. Lucy's eyes shifted to the center of the room, and she gasped in shock from seeing that familiar orange hair that belonged to a certain guy who wore an orange cardigan sweater with brown pants to match.

"Well, we cross paths again. You certainly took your sweet time getting here." Shinji told Lucy in a somewhat stern and impatient manner, folding his arms as he looked at her.

The blonde-haired girl replied in an embarrassed manner as she opened the orange book, "I'm sorry. It took me 45 minutes to pick out the best dress. My original clothes got damaged in the previous fight."

"Let's just get started. I accept your challenge, Lucy Heartfilia! Be aware that I'm not careless like my teammates from the Grand Magic Games, and show me your full strength!" Shinji told her in a stern manner as he could see the determination in her eyes, hoping she'd bring that to the battlefield.

Lucy started off the battle by using the spell known as Rocky Spikes, and she focused it on the area in front of her. A wall of five brown spikes rose up from the ground, and the mage from Sabertooth smiled confidently while thinking it would be a wise idea to begin the fight with a good defensive move. She could tell that Shinji really held back during the Grand Magic Games, since he didn't show off many of his moves, so it would be very interesting to see what he was capable of. In fact, Lucy wondered if he could punch through solid rock.

Shinji made some sand lunge towards his left hand, and he used his magical power to make it form a ball. An orange aura surrounded the sphere of brown sand, and the stern wizard threw it at Lucy's spikes! The slightest amount of contact with the rock spikes caused a large orange blast of Earth Magic to occur, and it broke through Lucy's defensive moves. Some chunks of rock struck her, creating orange explosions that were somewhat smaller than the first one, and Lucy screamed in pain while she took damage.

The rocks that struck her felt like dense punches to her body, and Shinji deliberately made that orange aura engulf the sand sphere. He wanted the aura to send itself into Lucy's rock spikes to boost their power, and getting hit by powerful chunks of rock made Lucy fall down to the ground. She managed to stand up, and Lucy activated the spell called Earthy Bombardment. She set her book down while an orange aura engulfed her fists, and Lucy ran towards Shinji. She swung her fists at him with lots of power while attempting to punch in a rapid manner, and her last punch sent him sliding back several feet.

He only took a minimal amount of damage from those punches, due to using Earth Magic on himself to have his body be tough like tempered steel, and Shinji sent Lucy crashing into one of the large rocks by dealing a powerful karate chop to her chest. He also struck a nearby rock with a karate chop, breaking it into chunks that were somewhat smaller, and he heard Lucy pant while she stood up again. Some blood was on her right arm while she felt pain from that powerful impact with the rock, but Lucy would not be done yet.

"I won't go down so easily, Shinji." Lucy told him with confidence in her voice while walking over to the orange spell book.

The orange-haired male replied as he folded his arms once again, "I'm looking forward to seeing your next move."

Lucy picked up the book, and she narrowed her eyes while using the spell that was simply known as Mud Puddle. The spell merely created a brown puddle of mud in front of her, and Lucy stretched her arms down into the mud. An orange aura began to engulf her body while steam rose from her wounds, and Lucy's bruises were starting to be healed. The hot mud's effects also caused Lucy's body to no longer be in pain, and she was able to stand up without feeling exhausted. Healing spells weren't always secondary effects of flashy attacks, and Shinji thought it was good that Lucy picked the right time to heal herself.

He shot out seven blobs of mud from his hands, wanting Lucy to be hit by their explosions, but the sight of Lucy blocking them with her orange spell book was certainly surprising. The brown mud began to engulf the orange spell book, before getting absorbed into it, and Lucy held on to the book while feeling it become hard like a rock. She soon raised it up high, before dropping it down to the ground, and the orange spell book landed on the ground to create a tremor! The amount of force created some cracks on the floor while some rocks broke apart, and Lucy could guess that her Earth Magic gained enough strength to evolve.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Levy smiled nicely as she continued to read the ragged brown book, really liking the information that the black runes provided after being deciphered, and skipping over the information about the birthday celebration was probably a good idea for now. She currently found herself reading a page about the mining company truly going bankrupt during that harsh winter with no workers around to even help their bosses go mining for gems, and the blizzards of winter were even cold enough to freeze pickaxes with ease.

Apparently, the fact that mining seemed futile caused the daughter of the miners to be interested with the idea of taking jobs for the closest guild. The woman who wrote the diary recalled how she no longer saw her daughter smile, even disapproving of how she stole flyers that were S-Class jobs, and her daughter's eyes looked quite bitter during that cold winter. The woman's husband spoke of how the mining business could be resurrected at some point, but their daughter really did not like that idea. In fact, she was more interested in S-Class jobs instead of mining.

Lumina took several jobs in the entire month of December while storing her large amount of funds in the bank, and her parents were surprised to see that she learned to be proficient with the black magic from the dark crystal that was discovered in the Nurie Ruins. Her mother actually took her to see the large crystal, and Lumina enjoyed seeing its beauty. She was surprisingly able to absorb its dark energy, and a black aura had engulfed her body for at least ten minutes. The fact that she didn't go mad with hostility back then made her mother and father feel quite happy, but that happiness did not last long.

Levy was quite surprised to see that Lumina used all of her money to restore the company that her parents built, and the blue-haired mage widened her eyes from seeing the diary's writer talk about how she was now out of a job while Lumina would make sure that she never worked in any of Fiore's other towns. Whether it was from the darkness of the crystal or the bitter cold of the winter season, Lumina felt no remorse with telling her own mother that she was useless to her now. On top of that, the company would soon head in a new direction.

"December 6, X790. Lumina banished me from the company that I worked so hard to create, and she is now its youngest president! She intends to make my company focus on fashion, and the building is even getting remodeled. The blueprints, my plans for mining, and even the pickaxes were all burned in a large fire that was in front of company! I want to blame Lumina for my suffering, but I only have myself to blame." Levy read to herself in a calm manner, as Mirajane walked by her table.

Mira asked her in a curious tone as she smiled, "Levy, who's Lumina?"

Levy responded kindly while turning to the next page, "According to the diary entries, she is the daughter of whoever once owned a mining company."

The girl with brown eyes began to tell Mira how it seemed quite grand to go from being poor to living a very wealthy lifestyle, and Mira decided to sit down in the chair next to her. Both of the girls began to read this next page of the translated diary, and Levy felt quite amazed to hear that Lumina chose to only make designs during the entire year of X791. Her company wasn't obviously going to become popular overnight, so she just left everyone in the dark about her great skills with fashion. That was a smart idea, since the fashion world did have popular people in the industry during X790 and X791.

During the year of X791, however, Lumina's mother watched her leave the company to go on quests. They were not jobs that she stole, but Lumina decided to have some nice adventures. Her father fell ill with a terrible flu while her mother secretly followed her to certain locations, and Lumina's mother spoke of how she saw her daughter collect seven crystals that were in different colors. Lumina had obviously been doing research while hiring people to help her find the locations of the Rainbow Crystals, and her mother said that Lumina even used a camera to get photographic evidence of their locations.

The diary talked about how those crystals shined brightly with their different colors of light while they were presumably tied to magic, and the red one that Lumina found on Emblaze Island could boost up Fire Magic to a high level. Lumina's mother followed her for about ten days straight, and she could see that Lumina was very smart. She could use dark magic while also using the elements of the Rainbow Crystals, and the day Lumina found the pink Starry Crystal was when she had done something quite interesting. It seemed like a side project to test out, but Lumina would enjoy it.

Levy and Mirajane read the next page that spoke of Lumina's mom sneaking into the company one night, and she entered a room that was off-limits. Apparently, Lumina and some fashion researchers for her company had a black spell book in a glass case. They were just as amazed as Lumina's mother to see that putting the Rainbow Crystals on seven corners around the book nullified the dark magic that Lumina fired at the book to make it turn black, and the fashion designer originally made that book be filled with the dark magic of the Shadow Crystal.

"December 17th, X791. Placing one of the Rainbow Crystals on that book causes it to change colors, and I overheard some scientists talking about how Lumina created that book to hold her powerful arsenal of spells. Perhaps the nature of the spells change with each crystal that is placed on it, but I can't be sure. Each lovely color seems better than the darkness engulfing Lumina's heart and soul." Levy read aloud while looking somewhat startled, as the concept of an elemental book seemed familiar.

Mira widened her blue eyes from recalling Lucy's fight against Jenny in the Grand Magic Games, remembering how she was able to use Water Magic while her book was blue, and the oldest Strauss sibling could guess that Lumina's book was now in Lucy's hands. However, what would the past have to do with the current year? To Mira's knowledge, there were no fashion designers named Lumina in the kingdom of Fiore. There was a fashion designer who made her clothes be set at high prices with Rainbow Crystals as items that were also needed for the purchases, but Mira saw no connection between them.

She assumed that something must've happened to Lumina for her to not even be talked about during the year X791, which was the same year Fairy Tail's core members came back and helped their guild win the Grand Magic Games, but let's just say that Lumina no longer existed after her birthday in X790. Mira turned her attention back to the diary to see Levy flip past the next page that talked about Lumina's father going out into the cold to see her at the company, only to succumb to the flu when he confronted her, and the girls who were reading the diary would've probably been horrified to find out that Lumina smiled while not feeling an ounce of sadness.

* * *

 **Back at the fashion company...**

While Kira and Rogue went up to the fashion company's second floor to hopefully see Lucy come out of the orange doors with a victory, Sting and Lector were still waiting on the ground floor with Mayumi. She sat behind the reception desk while tapping the red Lacrima Data again for it to update Lucy's progress in the ancient challenge, and Sting looked pretty surprised to see that Lucy was currently facing Shinji. He wondered if she and Kira had a good battle, and beating the red-haired merchant was something that even Sting would find to be difficult.

He narrowed his eyes while recalling how Shinji only participated during the first day of the Grand Magic Games, but his strength was certainly nothing to laugh at. If he could infuse Earth Magic into his punches, he'd certainly give trouble to Sting or Natsu. On top of that, Earth Magic did boost a person's physical strength while earth-based spells could be pretty fearsome. Sting wondered if this match was purposely made to be a shocker like when Lucy had to face Kira, and the light dragon slayer wouldn't just believe it to be coincidental.

"Man, I really hate this job. Samantha has appointments today, and I'm just supposed to sit here and wait for the clients to show up." Mayumi told Sting in a bored tone while her eyes shifted to the doors behind him.

Sting asked her while looking pretty curious, "Wouldn't you eventually have to be a model for some of her clothes, though? You know she needs models in a fashion company, right?"

Mayumi replied as she seemed somewhat disappointed, her eyes shifting down to her dress, "Well, I'm only fourth-last in the line of models. Moving up past people in this industry is hard. Your walk, your poses, your looks, and your attitude all have to be a certain way for each photo shoot. I'm in 17th place out of 20 people, just so you know."

Sting informed her that Samantha wanted Lucy to work as a model for a while, maybe even have her be under a long-term contract at this company, and Sting smiled as he believed that his girlfriend was a great mage who could handle a modeling job. Sting even went on to tell Mayumi that Lucy fought incredibly hard to get all of her crystals, having enough tenacity to where she wouldn't even think of giving up in a fight, and Lucy could even make a fight be shifted in her favor by being tactical with her awesome spells.

He then went on to say that Lucy would probably be one of the top ten models at Samantha's fashion company, and he'd definitely give her a nice gift for making it all the way to the top. He actually hoped that Samantha would see Lucy as her best model, since she could look good in almost any clothing, and a nice celebrity like Samantha Kalos would love to have a nice girl like Lucy working for her. Having a member of Sabertooth work at a great fashion company would boost the company's reputation while boosting Sabertooth's amazing reputation, so it was a win-win for Lucy to come here.

Even though Sting felt happy about Lucy working here, Mayumi's disappointed frown remained on her face. Another model coming into this industry would probably knock Mayumi down to being the third-worst model out of the twenty that Samantha wanted to have working at her company right now, and she really didn't want to get fired very soon. Kira also looked like someone who would be a beautiful model, so being one of the weakest models in the company would not be good for Mayumi. Even when five or seven models left, five or seven more girls would come in and model well enough to keep Mayumi at the bottom of the list.

She honestly stood outside earlier because it was a nice area for her to just think about the idea of staying around, and maybe it would be better for her to just quit instead of getting fired. The other models informed her that things could shift, as Samantha could fire models for even the pettiest reasons, and one girl once dropped ice cream on Samantha's shoe. Even though she was the seventh-best model at the time, Samantha still fired her and took her to the Nurie Ruins later for it to be official. If Mayumi would be dropped, couldn't she at least do it on her own terms?

"Keep this to yourself, but I'm thinking of resigning soon. I haven't really moved up at all in this company, and Samantha will fire me soon. I'd rather just tell her I'm quitting." Mayumi explained to Sting as she soon became frustrated.

Sting replied nicely while smiling a bit, "Yeah, you should find a new job if you hate this one."

Mayumi saw those words as encouragement for her to quit, and she wasted no time with getting out from behind the desk. If she faced Samantha in a stern manner and told her why she was quitting, Mayumi would definitely feel great. She went through the doorway that Kira initially went through, and Sting decided to follow her. Lector seemed somewhat unsure about this, as it seemed wiser to find Lucy, but Sting would be sure to find her later and tell her about how Samantha's temporary receptionist chose to quit that job.

As Mayumi and Sting walked into a room with a grey floor and grey walls, the blue-eyed male was surprised to see seven Rainbow Crystals floating in midair. Samantha actually sent her magical power into them for the crystals to temporarily be floating, and touching one of them would send someone to the floor of the company that corresponded with the crystal's color. For example, touching the purple Requiem Crystal would send someone to the sixth floor of Samantha's fashion company. Mayumi narrowed her eyes while recalling that information, and she wasted no time with walking towards the pink Starry Crystal.

Sting watched the red-haired model gently make her tongue touch it, before she warped away in a pink aura, and he stared at the other crystals in the room. They were all lined up in a row from red to pink, being arranged in the colors of the rainbow, and Sting decided to touch the fifth one. He felt like it would be nice to weaken Lucy's opponent before she even got there, as that person would've wasted too much time with fighting him to even have enough magical power for a fight against Lucy, and Sting confidently grinned about his plan.

He did not expect Lector to nicely reminisce about how Lucy appeared to get the green Verdant Crystal on the same day that Kazehana Town held that nice festival with the minty chocolates that were shaped like leaves, and Lector flew towards the Verdant Crystal. He softly touched it, only to be warped away in a mint green aura that quickly engulfed him, and that aura went up through the ceiling. Sting looked worried and shocked about what just happened to Lector, and he simply punched the green crystal for it to send him up to the same area of the company.

* * *

 **In the orange room...**

Lucy opened up her orange spell book to the section where Earth Magic was located, and she got to see that seven more spells were written in orange text! The fierce power of Shinji's mud bombs must've been strong enough to give Lucy's Earth Magic enough strength to evolve, and an orange aura began to surround the book. She gave Shinji a confident smile while he only looked back at her with a stern frown that told her to unleash her best skills, and he definitely wanted to see the immense power of Lucy's moves.

She unleashed the spell known as Terra Sand Spikes, and this spell required Lucy to aggressively slam her hands against the ground. She set the book down before doing that while an orange aura engulfed her hands, and a very large wall of sand formed in front of her. It took the appearance of menacing light brown spikes while the sand itself was quite dense, but Shinji still chose to run towards that wall. Lucy wondered if he could actually break through the weakest of her new spells, and this would be a battle of power.

Shinji slammed his left fist against the wall of spikes with tremendous force, making it shake for a few seconds, and he quickly stepped back while seeing Lucy's wall of sand have a small crack in it. He shot out a blob of hot mud from his mouth, aiming for that crack, and Shinji was successful. He watched his mud explode while it broke apart Lucy's large wall of sand, and that sand soon covered most of the floor. Shinji merely smirked while telling Lucy that her defense was good, but it wasn't good enough to fully withstand his strength.

Lucy picked up the book while she decided to activate the next spell that was known as Earth's Rocky Precision, and this spell was similar to Earthy Bombardment. The orange aura remained around Lucy's fists, but she began to move her left arm around in a circle. Lucy's arm moved quite fast, and she ran towards Shinji. He managed to block one of her kicks with his right hand, only to be struck in the face by Lucy's left fist, and the power of that punch slammed him against the wall. He ran back towards Lucy, only to receive seven more dense punches, and Lucy's quick punches combined their amounts of force to send Shinji crashing into one of the large rocks!

"That's some impressive strength." Shinji told Lucy while getting out from underneath some rocks, his body having some bruises while blood slightly dripped from his arms.

Lucy replied as she looked pleased, giggling a bit, "I'm pretty glad that I spent time training in the Haina Desert before the Grand Magic Games. Punching and karate chopping rocks does make your fists stronger."

Shinji told her while he simply frowned, stretching out his hands, "Let's see if you can handle this."

He fired seven large blobs of mud from his hands, and he watched Lucy attempt to activate her third spell that was known as Muddy Heal. Nothing seemed to appear, which made Lucy start to look shocked, and she was struck by Shinji's projectiles that created six orange blasts around her! Lucy screamed in pain while the last projectile went flying into her mouth, and she winced in immense pain while swallowing it. That was quite unorthodox, but swallowing spells of certain types of magic would have crazy effects. What would happen to Lucy?

She felt the projectile explode within her stomach, only making her cough up lots of mud that landed in her left hand, and the orange aura from earlier started to surround Lucy's body. She soon felt her body heal while her bruises also began to vanish, and steam rose from her wounds. Muddy Heal was a healing spell, but it would only work after the user consumed mud. Lucy grinned from the sight of the battle seemingly shifting in her favor, and she was ready to bring out her next spell of Earth Magic. In fact, the mud on her hand could be useful for it.

Lucy activated the next spell that was known as Terra Ground Bombs, and it surprisingly caused the mud in her hand to take the shape of a large ball. She threw it at Shinji while the mud felt very hot and dense, but that wasn't all there was to the spell. A large amount of sand rose up to surround the ball, before forming three somewhat smaller rings of sand around it, and Lucy's attack headed straight for Shinji! He merely took the attack directly as it created an orange blast that was quite large, shaking the room, and the attack's density dealt more damage to Shinji's body.

He endured the attack enough to walk through the orange clouds of smoke, only to see Lucy run towards him while she planned to throw another punch, and Shinji narrowed his eyes. As Lucy punched him in the face twice with her left fist, he merely retaliated with five harsh karate chops to her chest and stomach. The high amount of force in his attacks made Lucy be sent flying, and she hit the wall behind her quite harshly. She winced in pain while doing her best to stand up, and Shinji could only smile as he seemed to be enjoying this battle.

"I can't remember the last time someone kept retaliating against my moves. Your battling style is far from being pathetic, Lucy." Shinji told her in a calm tone while cracking his knuckles, ready to bring out his next move.

Lucy responded nicely while looking at the next spell in her book, glad to see its description, "Thanks, Shinji. If your next move is powerful, we'll see if I can get payback for how you broke through my wall of sand spikes."

Shinji slammed his left palm down on the sandy ground to create a strong seismic wave that headed straight for Lucy, widening its power to break the large rocks that were in the room, but the blonde-haired girl jumped up high. Shinji wanted that to happen, however, and he made his seismic wave explode to create a tremor that sent some rocks high into the air. Due to Shinji sending his magic into the ground for it to go up into the rocks, they would definitely make Lucy experience a tremendous amount of pain.

Lucy activated her fifth new spell that was known as Sand Queen's Claws, and this spell made sand rise up from the ground to engulf her hands. The sand soon turned dark brown while it felt pretty dense, and Lucy stretched out her arms. When some rocks hit her claws, they exploded in large orange blasts! However, they only left small scorch marks on her claws while Lucy was also able to deflect some rocks with the powerful slashes from her claws. Some of them did hit her legs, though, and other rocks were sent back towards Shinji.

Lucy came back down to the ground while her legs were damaged, and she winced in pain while activating her next spell. It was known as Muddy Maelstrom, and this spell was interesting. Lucy shot out a small tornado of brown mud from her mouth, and it struck one of the rocks. Much to the surprise of Lucy and Shinji, the spell absorbed the rock while it grew bigger. The process repeated itself as the tornado struck nine more rocks in the room, and it soon grew to be quite massive. In fact, it was almost as large as the maelstrom from Kira's fight against Kagura.

The massive attack soon split into seven tornadoes that were somewhat smaller, and the muddy tornadoes went straight for Shinji. They hastily struck him while nine explosions of Earth Magic occurred, and they made tons of mud be sent flying all over the room. Lucy had to use most of her strength to jump up high to avoid some of the mud, only grabbing it and eating it when it came directly towards her, and the orange aura around her body gave more strength to her legs that were pained from Shinji's earlier attacks.

"That was certainly a powerful attack, Lucy. You've certainly improved." Shinji told her in a calm tone while he was bruised and bloodied, picking up some mud to change its properties into light brown clay for the purpose of charging up power.

Lucy asked him in a somewhat shocked tone, "You saw me use Earth Magic before, Shinji?"

Even though Lucy was surprised by that, she kept her mind on the battle. She picked up a large rock that was nearly submerged in some mud, taking in all of the Earth Magic for her final attack, and Lucy was ready to actually get her first official win in Samantha's challenge. She looked at the orange spell book in her right hand, and her final evolved spell of Earth Magic seemed like it would be the perfect way to finish this fight. Which wielder of Earth Magic would end up experiencing the great feeling of victory, though?

Lucy used the move known as Earthy Shuriken's Rumble, and this spell made seven large shuriken surround her left fist. They were light brown while four of them were formed from solid rock, and the other three were made out of mud. They soon covered her fist with rocks and mud, before an orange aura surrounded it, and Lucy ran towards Shinji. The strong wizard from the Haina Ganseki dropped the clay after absorbing all of its energy, and he chose to charge at Lucy. Both mages glared at each other, and Lucy managed to strike Shinji in the stomach while her punch was quite dense!

Shinji coughed up some blood while he struck Lucy's body with seven karate chops that were incredibly powerful, making the Sabertooth mage fall to her knees, and he slightly smirked. The aftereffect of Lucy's spell showed itself, however, and the orange aura on Shinji's stomach made his body feel the pain of seven more dense punches. Lucy's spell broke through Shinji's iron density, making him fall backwards on to the floor, and she could only struggle to stand while the orange doors in front of her proceeded to slowly open.

As Lucy slowly took steps towards the doors, Shinji felt like he could no longer move. He was quite proud of Lucy for giving him a really good fight, and he remembered watching her from behind a rock in the Haina Desert. He honestly wondered what she was doing there, as she didn't look like a warrior, and Shinji remembered how he helped Lucy get her foot unstuck from a crack in the ground. She may not have always looked like a warrior, but Lucy certainly had enough power to fight with the strong punches of a champ.

After seven more seconds of walking, Lucy was finally out of the room. She turned back to see Shinji, who was soon engulfed in an orange aura, and that was because of the Earth Crystal on the ground floor starting to shine with its orange beams of light. When a fight was over, the corresponding crystal would do that. The Fire Crystal didn't do that for Kira because of how she and Lucy were quick to exit the room, and Samantha's crystals were filled with enough magical power to send the loser of each fight to the location where each crystal could be found. In Shinji's case, Lucy had to shockingly watch the aura warp him back to the Haina Desert.

As she saw the yellow sliding doors on the other side of the hallway begin to open up while the doors behind her began to close, Lucy could only be glad to see Kira and Rogue walking towards her. They looked pretty happy to see that Lucy managed to win, but the brown-eyed girl actually felt pretty anxious about who her next opponent would be. The fact that she could hear some men and women chanting ominously while someone was surprisingly singing beautifully in harmony with their chanting about the holy light was quite a shocker, though. Whoever awaited her on the third floor would certainly not mind adding some high notes of their lightning being added to the ominous song's next verse.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 42? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. This story just keeps getting exciting, especially for me! I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! This challenge isn't exactly easy for Lucy, and the next opponent may be quite a surprise.**


	43. Chapter 43

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **High Voltage Fight! Lucy vs Hikari!**

* * *

The second floor of Samantha's fashion company only contained some rooms for employee meetings, and there was a snack room at the end of the corridor. Kira came out of that room while eating potato chips from a yellow bag that was somewhat large, and she was happy to regain some of her strength. Going into a battle with hunger on the mind was never good, and Kira held an orange bag of chips in her left hand. They were barbecue-flavored, and the merchant with red hair happily handed that delicious snack to Lucy.

Lucy gently opened the bag of chips and proceeded to eat the snack, and she liked how the barbecue chips tasted. This snack was a nice bit of relief after that tough battle with Shinji, and Lucy was curious about her next battle. Even though only five minutes had passed since the battle ended, Lucy could still hear people singing on the next floor. They ominously chanted about holy light, but Kira assured her friend that there was no reason to be afraid. She even hit Lucy in the stomach with a healing flame that engulfed her left fist, making her feel more revitalized, and the Celestial Spirit Wizard nearly dropped her bag of chips.

She ate at least nine more barbecue-flavored potato chips before deciding to give the bag to Rogue, and Lucy walked towards the yellow sliding doors that were across from the room where she fought Shinji, and Lucy watched the yellow doors open up. She went through them with a nice smile on her face while not being surprised to see another set of white stairs, and Lucy went up the stairs while wondering who the user of Lightning Magic would be. She wondered if Akina would be her opponent again, and that made Lucy feel even more determined to win this next fight.

When Lucy reached the doorway and saw seven mages in white robes leave the room that had enough electricity to be quite bright, she widened her cocoa brown eyes at the sight of a familiar girl who wore a yellow open jacket with a white shirt and a yellow skirt to match. That wavy blonde hair was familiar to Lucy, and she looked at this girl's yellow high heels as well. Lucy liked how this girl had a nice singing voice, but the sight of her being one of the Elite Seven was quite a shocker. This girl's presence certainly gave Lucy quite a jolt, but she'd just have to accept that Samantha chose her as an elite mage.

"Hello, Lucy. Wow, this is quite interesting. We met in Voltage Town, and I think that was where you got your third Rainbow Crystal. We now meet again on the third floor of this company for a battle." Hikari told her in a kind tone, smiling nicely about the situation.

Lucy replied as she still looked slightly startled, "Hey, Hikari. I honestly didn't expect to be fighting you. Actually, I expected Akina to be my opponent."

Hikari explained to her as she seemed pretty thrilled about the circumstances, "The woman who runs this company passed through Voltage Town yesterday, and my mother told her about my electric streak of success on S-Class missions. I also showed her my lightning spells, and she handed me a yellow letter. Lucy, get ready to see how I've improved. As the guild master of Voltage Town's cathedral, I accept your challenge!"

Before they actually battled, Lucy took out the pearl pink case from the right pocket of her orange dress. She made the top-left corner of her orange spell book gently touch the Electric Crystal, causing the book to become yellow, and Lucy closed the case. She put it back into the pocket while wondering about what spells Hikari would have, and Lucy opened up her book as she decided to use the spell known as Speared Lightning. Even though this spell would probably not do very much damage on its own, Lucy would at least get to see Hikari's reaction.

Lucy shot out a yellow beam of electricity from her mouth, and it spun at high speeds while having a spearhead. Hikari quickly countered that spell by unleashing three powerful bolts of lightning from her mouth, and they managed to absorb Lucy's spell! She was quickly electrocuted by Hikari's Holy Thunderbolt, and Lucy screamed in pain while feeling the electricity surround her. It soon faded away while she winced in pain from that strong attack, and Hikari grinned at how she purposely let Lucy make the first move. After all, they were both using Lightning Magic.

The next spell Lucy used was Volt's Ball, and she fired a yellow ball of electricity from her right hand. It soon got blocked by a yellow sphere of electricity that Hikari fired from her left hand, and the small explosion only resulted in yellow sparks of lightning coming off of Hikari's sphere. Lucy used the Volt's Ball spell four more times, only to see Hikari's spell called Electric Magnejolt absorb every projectile. Hikari could move it around with her right hand, and absorbing more electricity made its speed increase. Electric Magnejolt was now moving around at incredibly high speeds, but it soon left the battlefield by going into Hikari's mouth.

A yellow aura engulfed her body while she felt incredibly supercharged from all that electricity, and Hikari began to zoom around the room at rapid speeds! Lucy's eyes could barely keep track of her, as she would appear only for split seconds, and Lucy couldn't react fast enough against Hikari's electrically-charged punches! The last punch slammed her against a yellow wall, and Lucy groaned as she began to understand how Hikari gained so much speed. She absorbed a move that was electrically charged, and she was now applying that magic to her feet.

"She's combined basic spells with a pretty good strategy. That last move was done on purpose." Lucy said aloud as she began to stand up, still wincing in pain.

Hikari told her while returning to her original spot, steam rising up from her insanely fast feet, "There's a pretty big reason I let you make the first move, Lucy. I've been using your electricity to power up my own moves. Of course, I'm not going to unleash it all through high speed."

Lucy thought to herself in a concerned manner, as she narrowed her brown eyes, _"What other tricks does Hikari have up her sleeve?"_

She wasted no time with using the third spell that was known as Electro Disc, and this spell made a large compact disc appear in her right hand. She threw it like a Frisbee at Hikari, who merely dodged it with ease, and the green-eyed wizard activated a move known as Lightning Hyper Rave. This move caused her to shoot out a large sphere of yellow lightning from her left hand, and it floated in midair while a yellow aura surrounded it. The sphere was charged up with the rest of the electricity absorbed from Lucy's moves, but what would happen?

As Lucy's yellow disc flew through the air, it was suddenly shot down by a yellow beam of light that was shot from the sphere! The disc landed in front of Hikari's feet while it was about to detonate, but Hikari's sphere fired more beams of electricity! They were surprisingly light enough to bounce off the walls, some of them almost hitting Lucy, and Hikari even used the Electric Magnejolt spell in the middle of her sphere crazily shooting out lightning beams. As some of the beams got absorbed into the sphere, Lucy looked frustrated at how her spells were most likely not at that level.

At that moment, her eyes widened with realization. If enough magic could make her spells evolve, then why stop Hikari? She watched the blonde-haired girl send that sphere into the larger one, causing it to fire beams at a much faster rate, and seven beams of powerful electricity struck Lucy! She screamed in pain while eight beams of electricity hit the Electro Disc, and several large yellow blasts began to transpire! Hikari also let out a scream of pain from being hit by Lucy's attack, and her own move was definitely working against her while Lucy's yellow book started to get surrounded by electricity.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Levy and Mirajane continued to examine the contents of the diary, turning to the next page, and both of the girls felt pretty surprised to see that the next entry was written on the same day while the one following it wasn't dated. The mother of Lumina made these entries be her last two entries while leaving the rest of the pages blank, and Mira still wondered how Lumina could feel no sadness whatsoever from seeing her father die right before her eyes. She certainly seemed cold like the winter where these final events in the diary took place, but Lumina was more dark than cold.

Levy seemed quite shocked to read about how Lumina's mother broke open the glass case with her bare fists, causing an alarm to go off in the laboratory, and she ran all the way up to the top of the company to hopefully encounter her daughter. She heard the footsteps of researchers hurrying after her, knowing that they did see her break the glass, and Lumina's mother went up the stairs of floors at quite a fast pace. She did not intend on getting stopped by guards or researchers, and Lumina's mom only wanted to put an end to the events that she created.

Exposing her daughter to the black crystal is what caused the company to change, as well as causing Lumina's attitude to greatly change, and the mother of the fashion designer kept running up to the top floor. She hoped to at least confront Lumina about this book, really wanting to tell her that being power-hungry was not a good thing, but getting up to the final floor was where she would probably encounter the worst sight of her life. In fact, Lumina's mother regretted how she was too focused on Lumina's darkness to see what was happening with her husband's flu.

When she finally stepped through the doorway to reach the pinnacle of the fashion company, Lumina stood over her dying father's body. The flu was very sickening to him while his fever was quite bad, and the dizziness made him faint while Lumina did not even care that the cold air was making his body shake. Her mother could only watch the man stop shaking, and the coldness of the air went well with the coldness that soon filled his body. He let out one final breath, before officially being overtaken by the deadly flu, and the man's wife could only drop the book loudly as she was stunned.

"December 17th, X791. My husband died on this day. Lumina merely told me to leave and bury him, but I left the book behind. I was too shocked and saddened to even grab it, but I'm sure Lumina will put it somewhere else. Damn, what a mistake on my part. I should do the same with this diary, perhaps." Levy read to herself in a calm manner, understanding why Lumina's mom felt like she made a mistake.

Mira replied as she nicely smiled, calmness in her blue eyes, "When you really think about it, she actually did the right thing by not taking the book. Otherwise, Lucy would've probably never gotten it."

Levy nicely told her, before her eyes went back to the book, "That's true."

The blue-haired mage read the final entry in the diary that spoke of how going to the town of Hoshizora where music was popular had been a nice way for Lumina's mother to just think about how she messed up her own's daughter's life, and she really wanted to save her from the darkness. She could never find the words to apologize for everything that went wrong, especially after what happened on Lumina's 15th birthday, and the fashion designer's mother felt like she needed to atone for what she had done. After all, she only wanted the black crystal for wealth and greed.

As she walked towards the museum, Lumina's mother took notice of some mages standing in front of the museum while a pink treasure chest was behind them. The chest was open while the mages had talked about how they were skilled at using Heavenly Body Magic in the town of Hyakkoku, and that treasure chest could also be a great place for storing vital information. Even though Lumina's mom had no idea about the actual spells that her daughter could wield, she still hoped that someone would be able to free her from the darkness.

Levy was surprised to learn that Lumina's mother wrote the final diary entry with a black pen that was quietly stolen from the left pocket of someone's black pants while that person passed by the diary's writer, and writing the entire diary in runes had really been the best way to keep just anybody from reading it. Lumina's mother had written her final entry in the diary, before quietly putting it under some of the money in the pink treasure chest, but she still felt the need to show Lumina and her dead husband that she was responsible for letting her own interests negatively affect their lives.

Mira and Levy widened their eyes from reading about how she purposely went in front of the two mages who wielded Heavenly Body Magic, scratching their faces with her nails, and she provoked them to the point where they easily killed her with high-level spells. The spells struck her incredibly fast while being filled with tremendous power, and she felt no pain because they killed her with more force than necessary. She didn't even have time to feel the pain, and those explosions were certainly powerful enough to turn her into a pile of ashes while Lumina's mother was erased from existence.

"Whoever finds this diary, please save Lumina. I foolishly inflicted the power of darkness on my own daughter, and that black crystal feeds on negativity. It feeds off of hate or lust for power, the last things I saw in my daughter's eyes when she looked at me on that night. The seven crystals in the rainbow's colors are the ones I should've sought..." Levy read to herself as she looked pretty startled, not expecting someone to purposely get themselves killed.

Mira thought to herself as she narrowed her eyes, _"There are no fashion designers in Fiore named Lumina, and I haven't seen anyone who's famous in the fashion world while looking like a teenager."_

With the small brown diary now translated, Levy felt like it would be good to go give it back to Lucy. The only issue was that she could be out on a job right now, and it definitely took quite a few hours for trains to reach the town of Shioru. Levy soon looked puzzled about what to do, but Mira's blue eyes soon glanced at one of the newspapers that was on a nearby table. She saw the news about a certain fashion designer in the town of Nurie having a party, but the bad news was that a famous person's party was usually exclusive.

As Mira began to think about how to get into that party, Levy soon recalled something interesting. When Sabertooth's team won the Grand Magic Games, they were nicely congratulated by the famous woman known as Samantha Kalos. She was famous for her beauty and those black hair clips she wore were certainly an original design made by her fashion company. Upon thinking about those black rhombus-shaped hair clips, Levy could only widen her eyes as she began to see how this diary and the event in the newspaper nicely connected.

* * *

 **Back at the fashion company...**

While Lucy and Hikari were currently having their battle, Kira and Rogue went up to the third floor with Frosch to see that it had yellow walls with a yellow tiled floor to match. This floor with Hikari as the member of the Elite Seven really matched the theme of Lightning Magic, as this was where people were doing research on dresses while looking at Lacrima Crystals for the next trends that could be good to join. Some of the researchers wore white lab coats while they also wore glasses, and they looked very focused as they were in the dark rooms.

Someone was even doing scientific research that involved mixing magic with certain liquids in beakers, and they surprisingly poured different colors on some dresses that were on lab tables. Rogue watched the dresses go from being white to becoming different colors, and that scientist was a person who wanted to advance the fashion company's research and development to where fashionable merchandise could be made from mixing magic with liquids of different colors. In fact, what Kira and Rogue saw was quite shocking.

The yellow dress soon had sparks of lightning emerge from it while the liquid in the beaker close to it was yellow, and electricity slightly crackled in that beaker. Although this kind of dress would garner lots of attention towards Samantha in the fashion world, she wanted to keep it from everyone else in Fiore. She could definitely make dresses with fabric and her stylish designs, but this was something incredibly new. In fact, not even a requipping mage like Erza would think these clothes were very typical for women to wear.

Kira saw another researcher in a different lab room pour pink liquid from a test tube on to a cute pink hat that had pink roses surrounding it, and that hat began to levitate like Heavenly Body Magic was on it. Apparently, Samantha thought that it would be nice to see if a levitating hat would be nice. If a person grabbed it while wearing it, they could possibly float upward for a short amount of time. These items of fashion were certainly cute, but their side effects would definitely make people ask for refunds. If that happened, Samantha would change the company's area of research.

"Are all the accessible rooms just filled with researchers?" Rogue asked aloud while looking curious, as he walked down the hall with Kira and Frosch.

Kira responded in a snarky manner while giggling at what was happening in two rooms, "Yeah, and it looks like some of them aren't entirely using their brains."

She was referring to two of the rooms on her left, since one of them showed a guy in a white lab coat blushing as he looked at some of the magazines that featured models in swimsuits, and the other room showed a guy interviewing some beautiful women while he seemed rather flustered by their beauty. He kindly asked them to cutely pose for him, and that researcher was actually making sketches of them on one of the papers in his research folder. For people who needed to analyze the fashion world and gather data, those two guys were certainly goofing off right now.

Rogue passed by a room where some researchers were looking at pictures of the Rainbow Crystals on a projector machine, but his red eyes took notice of how one picture featured Lucy using the Cerulean Crystal in her battle against Jenny. As he heard the main researcher in that room tell his co-workers about how the Rainbow Crystals could be useful for boosting up seven types of elemental magic, Rogue was astounded to hear some researchers give their own ideas about what spells to create. Did they seriously want to become mages, especially when some jobs could be dangerous?

Kira liked how she was on this nice little tour with Rogue, and they turned a corner to see that the next set of stairs was straight ahead while Hikari's friends were on the staircase. The room with the yellow sliding doors was on Kira's left side while a pair of green doors were directly across from them, and this challenge definitely followed the colors of the rainbow. Based on how Kira heard lots of electricity crackle in the room where Lucy was fighting Hikari, the next fight would most likely be just as dangerous. Rogue was glad that he and Kira could follow Lucy in this challenge, but something else was on his mind.

Rogue thought about how Sting hadn't shown up yet to support Lucy, and he didn't even seem to be following the group right now. Sting would surely want to support his girlfriend and give her kisses after every victory in this challenge, but why was he not even on the first floor? Rogue assumed that Lector was telling the receptionist all about Sting's greatness and his best adventures, probably keeping her distracted from doing work, and the shadow dragon slayer really hoped that Samantha was not yelling at Sting for making Mayumi slack off.

"Kira, do you think Sting will come running to us?" Rogue asked his girlfriend while starting to smile, gently holding her right hand with his left hand.

The merchant with hazel eyes kindly replied as she confidently smiled, "I'm willing to bet that he'll come running up all those sets of stairs while making some people be startled."

Kira could honestly imagine the researchers on this floor hearing some footsteps make it sound like a stampede was approaching, but it would only be Sting trying to make up for the fact that so much time was wasted. The light dragon slayer was actually on the fourth floor of the company right now, and he was probably lucky to not be caught by any of the security guards. Today was the company's seventh anniversary, so some of the guards were not working today while others were just trying to enjoy their time with patrolling certain areas.

Rogue and Kira also looked at the yellow sliding doors while they hoped Lucy wasn't getting electrocuted to death, and Kira wondered if Lucy was facing that evil priestess she defeated several months ago in Voltage Town. Kira giggled at the thought of collecting her own set of Rainbow Crystals to also take on this challenge someday, but who would she end up facing in the first round? Maybe she would end up facing Natsu or one of the wizards from the dark guild called Hell's Blaze, but Kira would certainly show her opponent that she had the strongest flames.

* * *

 **In the yellow room...**

Lucy opened up her yellow spell book to the section where Lightning Magic was located, and she was pretty amazed that seven more spells were written in yellow text. All of the electricity engulfing the book began to go into it, making these spells definitely seem like they needed to be fully charged, and the billowing clouds of smoke started to fade away. Lucy and Hikari were certainly damaged by each other's powerful attacks, but which wielder of lightning would end up being the one to claim victory in this electric fight?

Lucy unleashed the spell known as Lustrous Beam, and this spell caused Lucy to shoot out a spiraling beam of lightning from her mouth. Five rings of lightning were surrounding the beam, which surprised Hikari, and Voltage Town's guild master soon found herself having to dodge the attack. It ricocheted off of the wall behind her, before hitting the ceiling, and Lucy's spell came down on Hikari to create a yellow blast of energy that was quite large! Five smaller blasts actually occurred within the larger attack, and Hikari screamed in agonizing pain.

That did not stop her from using any spells, however, and Hikari shot out a sphere of electricity from her right hand. It absorbed some of the electricity that Lucy's blasts created, and the sphere headed straight for her. Lucy managed to evade this attack by dodging to her right, only to see the attack follow her because of how it absorbed her electricity, and this spell called Electric Seeker could chase after the person who generated the electricity for this move to eat. If Lucy got hit by this move, the result would be devastating.

She narrowed her brown eyes while quickly using the new spell called High Volt Flash, and this spell made Lucy shoot out her own yellow sphere of electricity from her mouth. When it gently hit Hikari's attack, the sphere created a blinding flash of yellow light! Lucy closed her eyes while feeling thin beams of light gently hit her body, and she could hear Hikari's attack explode from being struck by several beams of light. The electric beams were a side effect of Lucy's spell, and they could actually increase the speed of whatever they hit.

"Why did my spell explode like that?" Hikari asked aloud as she looked pretty stunned by what had happened.

Lucy replied calmly while feeling like she could move faster, noticing Hikari's hands moving just as fast, "Your spell is electrical like mine, but maybe I overloaded it."

Hikari told Lucy as she confidently grinned, knowing some of the beams hit her, "Well, let's see if you overloaded my speed!"

Before Lucy could say anything, Hikari was now zooming around the room again at rapid speeds. Lucy tried to watch Hikari's movements from every direction, only to feel her strikes come from multiple directions at once, and they were electrically-charged punches. Lucy coughed up some blood while she was about to launch another spell, but Hikari sliced off some skin from her left arm with her fingernails that were charged up with lightning. Lucy screamed in pain from that attack, feeling it to hurt just as much as Akina's Thunder Fang, and she definitely needed to counterattack.

Lucy activated the third spell that was named Electro Curve, and it caused a powerful beam of lightning to be fired from Lucy's mouth. The beam spiraled like the previous one, but it straight for the wall that was on the other side of the room. Lucy groaned while thinking that she messed up, but the moment the beam went past Hikari was when Lucy became surprised. Hikari's body was surrounded by a yellow aura while she suddenly felt immobilized, and the green-eyed girl was forcibly pulled backwards while the beam kept getting closer to the wall. Hikari soon found herself being slammed against the wall while the aura faded away, and she was directly in the path of Lucy's attack.

The attack soon split into three beams that flew in curved trajectories, before they precisely aimed at Hikari, and she was stuck to the wall while feeling tons of electricity around her. The beams soon hit her, creating three electric blasts that were quite large, and Lucy's spell actually required her to initially miss. When it went past an enemy, they would become electrically-charged by its waves while their body would be like a magnet. Due to the metal wall that the attack was heading to, Hikari ended up getting pulled to that wall by the lightning beam's magnetic effect.

The smoke faded away to reveal that Hikari was bruised up from that attack, but she still managed to strike Lucy with her own beam of lightning. The mage from Sabertooth screamed in pain from the attack, especially because of how some electricity brought pain to the wound on her left arm, and Lucy felt like she really needed all the pain to be healed. She soon fell to her knees while thinking that Hikari's battling style was truly clever, and she was fighting with the same determination that Lucy displayed in the fight against Akina. Still, Lucy needed to heal and try to deal with Hikari's tenacity.

"The next spell of Lightning Magic, I call upon thee! Divine Lightning!" Lucy shouted fiercely while sternness was in her cocoa brown eyes.

Hikari wondered while looking somewhat startled to see some dark clouds appear up near the room's ceiling, "What is Lucy planning to do?"

The dark clouds were quite large while they swirled above Lucy, and they suddenly became yellow while sending down seven massive jolts of electricity! The lightning struck Lucy quite quickly while her wounds began to heal, and she also absorbed the electricity from the thunderclouds. The evolved effect of this attack was that the clouds of lightning were immediately charged back up with lightning, and they would float over the battlefield for at least fifteen more minutes. Lucy's electrical tail shaped like a lightning bolt ripped through the back of her dress while it concealed the hole, and she was ready to continue this fight.

Lucy quickly activated her next spell that was known as Electrical Light Bomb, and it made a large ball of electricity appear on Lucy's yellow tail. The sphere began to spin up and down on the tail like with the Electric Charge spell, but there was a major difference. Hikari fired several beams of Lightning Magic at the clouds overhead, charging them up even more, and they released a large surge of electricity that was only aimed at Lucy's tail! The large ball was soon joined by two others that had sparks coming off of them, and they spun up and down Lucy's tail while forming a triangle.

Lucy sprang up into the air while electricity surrounded her body, and she grabbed one of the electric spheres. She threw it down at Hikari, who simply endured the attack, and the electric blast was quite massive. Lucy threw the other two spheres down at her opponent, but Hikari went low to the ground for the purpose of making one sphere go upward with a kick that was electrically-charged. It went up into one of the yellow clouds, making it have even more electricity, and Hikari let herself get hit by the other sphere that had been behind it.

The clouds of smoke and silence made Lucy smile with the intent of possibly celebrating, but the sudden explosion of a thundercloud and a vicious beam of striking her instantly made her feel agonizing pain while seeming very shocked. Wasn't that lightning supposed to heal her? She saw the smoke clear up to reveal that Hikari had lots of electricity surrounding her feet, and kicking an attack to overload it with much more electricity than it could handle was probably Hikari's way of getting back at Lucy for overloading the spell called Electric Seeker.

 _"When that first sphere hit Hikari, she must've assumed that I would feel confident enough to lower my guard. Taking my own attack and supercharging it with that well-timed kick, along with knowing it would overload the thundercloud.. Hikari's really improved."_ Lucy thought to herself while looking pretty bruised up and bloodied from that surge of lightning, as she panted.

Hikari thought to herself as she smiled confidently, recalling Lucy's lightning at the Grand Magic Games, _"Do you notice my battling style, Lucy? It's probably similar to how you would use all these spells, and the feeling of determination in this fight is so thrilling for me. Ever since you defeated my mother, you're the wizard I've looked up to!"_

Lucy decided to activate the sixth new spell, and it was known as Shock Wave Rings. Six large rings of electricity were fired from her left hand, and they went to the center of the battlefield. The rings soon burst into several thin beams of light headed straight for Hikari, but the high number of beams did not even faze her. She used a move called Lightning Refract, and that merely required her to stretch out her left hand. A large yellow wave of electricity emerged from her hand, and its electric waves increased the power of Lucy's beams of lightning. However, Hikari's spell sent them all right back at her.

Lucy was quick to use the High Volt Flash spell again, though, and she shockingly decided to swallow it. This made the spell explode inside of her, and the beams of lightning were all now powering up Lucy from within. She felt her strength b enhanced enough to where her new level of speed allowed her to rapidly spin in a counterclockwise manner, taking what she learned from a certain skateboarding wizard, and Lucy spun around several times while her winds were increasing in power. How would this affect the beams coming at her, though?

They soon got caught in the air current that she was generating, starting to rapidly go around in a large circle, and the beams from the Shock Wave Rings spell soon formed a large maelstrom around her. Lucy jumped out of its center, before using the Lustrous Beam spell to power it up even more, and her lightning overcame Hikari's electricity to where the spell was now under her control. Lucy commanded the attack to head straight for Hikari, and it struck the guild master of Voltage Town while moving at the speed of lightning!

As a massive blast of lightning filled the room and Hikari let out a scream of excruciating pain, Lucy could only think about how the tables were totally shifting in this battle. She never thought that the situation of countering a countered spell would ever happen, but Lucy was totally enjoying it. Having Hikari as her opponent was probably the best thing to ever happen for the Lightning Magic round of the Rainbow Mastery challenge, and the only bad thing about this electrical battle was that both girls were now on their final spells.

"It's time for my final spell! I call upon thee, Volt's Impact!" Lucy shouted fiercely while looking very serious, wanting to win.

Hikari stated as she also looked fierce, ready to see what would happen, "It's time for my last move as well!"

Lucy's final spell caused lightning came down from one of the yellow clouds to engulf her body, and she quickly charged at Hikari while moving at high speeds! This spell was an attack meant for close-range situations, but it would get some help from a long-range attack. Hikari's final spell was known as Lightning's Seven Holy Prayers, and that spell came down from one of the thunderclouds in the form of seven electric beams that all had rings of lightning floating around them. Hikari smiled at how her attacks seemed to have a massive amount of power, and one of them hit Lucy!

She merely absorbed the energy from that lightning beam, though, and Lucy ran much faster while running in a zigzag manner to dodge the rest of Hikari's attacks. She soon got close to Hikari and aggressively slammed into her, causing a massive blast of Lightning Magic to occur, but the force of the attack sent both girls flying back against the walls. The lightning heavily damaged the yellow floor and the saffron walls, creating several cracks in the room, and both girls were very bruised while being bloodied. Lucy struggled to stand up while hoping that she didn't kill Hikari, and the excess amount of electricity from the spell caused Lucy to get shocked while feeling the recoil effect of using Volt's Impact.

The clouds of smoke cleared up to reveal that Hikari was barely standing, her clothes being badly torn from all the fighting, and some blood dripped from her arms while it appeared that Lucy scratched her wrists. That was probably payback for earlier, but Lucy hoped that her friend would not die. She struggled to stand up while seeing Hikari give her a smile and a thumbs-up before falling to the floor because of exhaustion, and Lucy slowly took steps towards the doors that were behind Hikari. She saw the doors open to let Hikari's friends come running in, and some of them recognized Lucy.

The girl who wore a white robe and had messy purple hair decided to hit Lucy with a powerful beam of lightning that would heal her, before turning her attention to Hikari, and Lucy continued to walk out of the room while closing the yellow book. Her thunderclouds disappeared while a yellow aura soon came up through the floor to be in the room, and the electricity from that mage's healing spell made Lucy get out fast enough for the aura to only engulf Voltage Town's mages. Lucy saw her wounds slowly begin to heal while the aura warped Hikari back home, and that was certainly a tough battle.

"Lucy, you won! That's three down, and four more to go. However, you might need a new dress." Kira happily told her friend with a smile on her face, before noticing how the lightning made Lucy's orange dress be torn in certain areas.

Lucy replied with a stern look on her face while the green doors in front of her proceeded to open up, "I'll need a new dress, but I'll also need a good strategy for this next round. If Hikari was at that level, this next person may be just as good."

* * *

 **How was Chapter 43? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Lucy beat Hikari in an electric battle that certainly shocked her in many ways, and she's really seeing that the Elite Seven are not pushovers. In fact, the next person in the challenge may earn their own title as a captain. Does that sound familiar? I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! It's so exciting!**


	44. Chapter 44

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Botanical Battle! Lucy vs. Hizuki!**

* * *

After going back to the first floor and getting a new dress to wear, Lucy was back on the third floor again. Kira and Rogue stood behind her while she happily looked down at the strapless yellow dress that she wore, liking how the light made it look bright in certain areas, and the blonde-haired mage looked at the pink case that she held in her right hand. The case was opened up to show her Rainbow Crystals, and Lucy thought about how she was now going to fight the people who worked on the middle level of Samantha's company today.

She held the book in her left hand while making its bottom-right corner touch the green Verdant Crystal, and Lucy saw her yellow spell book become mint green. It still began to pulsate in a dark green color, however, and Lucy wondered if she would be able to make that stop. It was not annoying to her at all, but Lucy really did want to see if she could possibly use some new spells. She had attempted to test out the spells two days ago while her book pulsated, but nothing happened. Did she have to wait for the spells to be fully ready?

Speaking of the color green, Lucy's brown eyes were filled with a look that was now shifting between confidence and sternness. She felt confident that her windy moves could be powerful enough to take on this next person, but Lucy seemed pretty stern while she had a feeling about who her next opponent would be. There was only one powerful guy who truly liked the color green, and he wasn't the type of person to mess around in fights. In fact, Lucy was not even surprised that this guy completely defeated Natsu on the first day of the Grand Magic Games.

Lucy stepped through the doorway to climb up the next set of stairs, prepared to face off against Takuya, and she would definitely defeat him with her powerful winds. Their first battle may have ended in a draw, but Lucy was intent on winning against him. That would not be very easy, since Takuya was quite intelligent, but Lucy would not be afraid to battle against the wizard from Lamia Scale. As she climbed up the stairs and soon saw the doorway leading into the green room, she ended up getting a few surprises that were quite interesting.

Hizuki told Sting with a serious look on her face as she stood across from him, "Look, following me and Takuya into this room was a good idea. However, we already told you that we heard explosions happening on the floor below. If you were up here, you couldn't have been making so much noise down there."

Lucy exclaimed happily while running to her boyfriend's side, "Sting, you're here! Wow, I didn't expect you to be taking a personal tour of Samantha's company."

Sting replied with a smile on his face, before kissing Lucy's left cheek, "Actually, Lector got sent all the way up here and those green doors closed before he could join me in here. I can guess you rocked in those three previous fights."

As Lucy happily nodded, she took notice of how Takuya surprisingly stood a few feet behind Hizuki while she was oddly the one standing on the green skateboard. Takuya calmly informed his friends from Sabertooth that Hizuki got a letter from Samantha Kalos, which was personally shocking to him, and she was instructed to work on the fourth floor. Takuya was allowed to come with her because of how they fought as a pair, and this green room designed to look like a botanical garden with several trees situated on a grassy floor really suited them. There were also flowers and different plants around, too.

The magical power used to create all the plants also made sunlight come down upon the battlefield, and the four mages were ready to fight. In fact, Hizuki started off the fight by shooting out a dark green ball of Plant Magic from her left hand. She picked up some leaves that fell from the trees, throwing three of them at the sphere, and the attack headed straight for Lucy. She swiftly jumped upward to dodge the attack, watching it create a dark green blast that was three times its regular size, and Lucy would certainly use a good attack of her own.

Lucy used the spell called Zephyr's Breath, and she fired a spiraling mint green beam of wind from her mouth! It swiftly struck Hizuki while a mint green blast occurred, but the girl with jungle green hair merely smiled at the fact that wind was now circulating around this room. The green doors were thankfully closed to not let any of the air escape, and Hizuki shot out seven sharp-edged green leaves from her hands. They rode the wind while she aimed the projectiles up at Lucy, and Hizuki moved the index finger of her left hand in a circle to make the leaves begin to spin rapidly.

They struck Lucy quite harshly while creating dark green explosions, the blasts spinning in midair, and the sight of Lucy falling on the grass made Sting fire his White Dragon's Roar attack at Hizuki. His move was blocked by Takuya shooting out a large beam of mint green wind from his mouth, and Takuya inhaled wind through his nose to exhale it into his attack. The move soon doubled in power, before splitting into four beams, and Sting wasted no time with dodging the attacks that created large mint green blasts. As Lucy got up from the grass, she merely groaned in frustration while understanding Hizuki's strategy.

 _"Hizuki used those explosive attacks to make more wind appear, which is what Takuya needed for that strong move. On top of that, Hizuki wanted my spell to hit her."_ Lucy thought to herself while giving her newest opponents credit for being a great combination.

Sting told Takuya in a calm manner as he smiled, "You sure are tough, Takuya. You were just mad that we were evenly matched."

Takuya replied in a psyched manner as he grinned somewhat arrogantly, "We'll see if you can be evenly matched against my aerial power! Bring it on! The winds are roaring for a great fight!"

Lucy chose to use the move known as Windy Punch, and she inhaled a large amount of wind. Mint green winds surrounded her hands, and Lucy acted like she was throwing several large punches at Hizuki. Lucy also applied Wind Magic to her feet while waiting to see her spell's effect, and she hoped to use what she learned from Hikari in this fight. Charging up power wasn't exactly needed in this fight, but would Lucy even do that? She was probably trying to think ahead, since that was the best thing to do against Hizuki and Takuya.

The winds felt like a barrage of dense punches to Hizuki's body, and she was sent rolling across the grass. She quickly got up while groaning in pain, and Hizuki used her Plant Magic to make some nearby red roses become larger. She plucked some of their petals and stuffed them in her mouth, to Lucy's surprise, and Hizuki fired them all in the form of dark green bullets! Based on how Hizuki chewed the petals while infusing them with Plant Magic from her mouth, this spell would do some serious damage. How would Lucy counter it, though?

She decided to go with the second spell that was known as Aerial Shield, and a large cloud of Wind Magic appeared in front of Lucy. She shockingly fired the Zephyr's Breath spell at it twice, causing its strength to get boosted, and this shield could actually absorb wind-based attacks. That was why it wasn't bending in a defensive manner when Lucy struck it, and its density increased. However, it only became strengthened enough to be evenly matched with Hizuki's powerful bullets. The shield and the bullets ended up in an explosive stalemate, neither move breaking through the other, and they both got caught in fierce blasts.

Takuya gathered Wind Magic in his hands while choosing to jump up high, releasing the magic in the form of a large gust that blew away the green clouds of smoke, and the skateboarder soon went back down to the ground as he smirked at Lucy. Her fight against Hizuki reminded him of when she fought hard in their fight that transpired in the Kazehana Plains, and Takuya wondered if Sting would also be a good rival. In fact, Takuya wasn't fighting Lucy because of the fact that he was Hizuki's assistant in this situation while she was one of the Elite Seven.

"Sting, would you be fighting against me more if I was one of the Elite Seven? You seem like you're just here for kicks." Takuya asked calmly before speaking arrogantly.

The light dragon slayer replied confidently, saying this aloud, "I am gonna help Lucy fight you two. However, I want to save most of my energy for a certain person. I actually went up to the fifth floor for a moment, and I could smell that he's here."

Takuya looked somewhat puzzled at Sting's words, but he made Wind Magic engulf his hands again. Takuya made the winds go down toward his hands, causing two mint green tornadoes to form, and he threw them at Sting. The guild master of Sabertooth watched the tornadoes hastily head towards him, but he shot out a ball of white light from his mouth. It was known as White Dragon's Holy Sol, and this move made white beams of light emerge from the ball in many directions. The beams of light hit the tornadoes and exploded, resulting in white light that blinded everyone's eyes, and Sting hoped that a White Dragon's Roar would boost up this move's power even more.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, on the fourth floor...**

Kira and Rogue went upstairs to the next floor with Frosch while happily smiling, pretty glad that they would get to wait for Lucy in an area that had regular green walls with a mint green tiled floor to match, but the mages suddenly stopped walking when they spotted a security guard walking back and forth while he was patrolling the area. Another guard who wore sunglasses crept around the fourth floor while walking like a thief, trying to sneak up on whoever attempted to pass by, and the protagonists were actually lucky that less guards were working today.

Kira gulped a bit while taking soft steps down the hallway with Rogue, noticing that there were dressing rooms on both sides of the hallway, and the wizards did not want to get caught. Kira's footsteps were somewhat fast while her hazel eyes took notice of this floor being the first one to have an intersection involved, and turning to the northern direction allowed her to see that there was just a doorway that led to an important room of Samantha's fashion company. It may not have been dim and shady like the rooms where the researchers worked, but it was still an important place.

Rogue walked towards that doorway with Kira to see that it only led to a room that had dark green walls with jungle green carpeting while there was a pink stage at the back of the room, and lights from cameras were on while some women were walking down the runway. They all seemed to smile happily while doing nice poses as they wore dresses, being told by one of the workers that they all showed good posture while their walks were great for this company, and a woman with short brown hair was even praised for wearing sunglasses to not let the light get in her eyes.

There were some wizards like Beth Vanderwood who only took the easy jobs of interviewing the models who were walking down the runway, and Jason from Sorcerer Magazine was here to get some interviews about the lives of the models. Unlike last month's group of models, he hoped that they would have cool things to say. As Kira and Rogue turned away and were ready to go find the next staircase, they bumped into someone who they did not want to see. In fact, just standing in front of the doorway was probably not the best idea.

"State your business for being here, you two. We don't take kindly to intruders around here." The guard in the fancy black suit told Kira and Rogue as he ran his fingers through his messy blond hair.

Kira explained nicely while she frowned, hoping this would work, "Excuse me, but I am not an intruder. In case you weren't informed, I'm Kira Blazia of the Elite Seven. Assuming I'm an intruder is pretty disrespectful. Really, I wonder if you thought the other six were in different parts of company for unauthorized reasons.

The guard responded in an embarrassed manner, not exactly feeling as cool as his black sunglasses, "Oh, wow. I'm totally sorry about that. You guys can go wherever you want, but just don't damage anything. Also, any food in this company is yours to take."

Rogue watched the guard quickly go to a different part of the fourth floor while he did not want to look like the instigator of any drama, and the brown-haired guard who slowly walked around like a thief merely allowed the mages to run past him. He simply walked away from Kira and Rogue, who soon found themselves looking at the green pair of doors that were on the right side of the hallway while a pair of blue doors were directly across from them, and this floor was certainly very interesting. It wasn't too tight with security, though.

There was a room next to the green pair of doors, and it only served as a break room for the guards or models to enjoy some snacks. Rogue's eyes soon caught sight of Lector sitting on the nearby staircase, which made him question how the red Exceed got up here before the other protagonists even reached this area, and Kira also noticed that Lector was trying his best to look very confident. He believed that Sting would win that fight against Takuya and Hizuki, especially since he faced them before in the grassy plains of Kazehana Town.

Kira could hear the sound of wind blowing in the green room, which informed her that Wind Magic was involved, but the scent of flowers coming from that particular room also made her realize that Lucy's opponents also worked with Plant Magic. She believed that Lucy could win against those opponents, since her Wind Magic could be used in clever ways, and Kira had her own ideas for using wind. In fact, she hoped that Lucy would see this as a fight where she'd have to get creative in the fourth battle involving the Elite Seven.

The level of magical power coming from that room was quite high, but Kira turned around for a moment while thinking about those blue doors. She hadn't forgotten how Lucy was badly bruised up and bloodied in that fight for the Cerulean Crystal, her clothes badly torn, and the Rainbow Mastery challenge did get more difficult with each ascent to the next crystal. However, Kira did wonder if she would need to help Lucy in the next round. It would be rather foolhardy to fight water with fire, but she didn't want to see Lucy barely be able to walk.

"Kira-san, you and Rogue-kun are here!" Lector loudly said to them, snapping Kira out of her thoughts for a moment.

Kira responded kindly as she tried to smile, "Hi, Lector. You must've touched one of the crystals like I did. At least I wasn't all the way up here, or Lucy would've waited forever."

Lector told Kira in an assuring manner as he could still see her slightly frowning, not really buying that smile she was putting on, "Kira-san, listen. If you're worried about Lucy-san and Sting-kun, then just relax. Even though the next fight may be hard, their skills have improved so much. In fact, Sting-kun can't lose."

Rogue asked his girlfriend if she kept looking at the blue pair of doors because of how Lucy got overwhelmed by the woman she had to battle against to get the Cerulean Crystal, and Kira nodded kindly to tell him that was why she wasn't taking her eyes off those closed doors. Kira kindly told Rogue that the next round could get very intense, especially because of how Lucy's eyes always seemed fierce when she used Water Magic, and the red-haired merchant could understand why Lucy fought fiercely with Water Magic like she'd have a score to settle.

When Sting told Rogue about that icy battle near Eisetsu Town, the shadow dragon slayer could see the intensity in his friend's blue eyes. Sting seemed like he was intent on not losing next time, as he felt awful about not being able to help Lucy while his feet were frozen by glacial ice, and Rogue had told him to work hard enough to where a loss like that would not occur again. Sting certainly did work hard, even if he was not training alongside Lucy, and he spent lots of time strengthening his spells while learning new ones.

* * *

 **Elsewhere, on the seventh floor...**

Touching the pink Starry Crystal on the first floor allowed Mayumi to get warped up to the top floor of Samantha's fashion company, and the red-haired model stood in front of a black pair of doors. She gently touched one of them, causing them to quickly open, and Mayumi slowly stepped through the doorway to reach the rooftop of the company. She looked somewhat scared while seeing her boss have her back turned to her, not knowing what would happen, but Mayumi still needed to work up some courage to at least tell the blonde-haired woman about her decision.

Mayumi came from the guild known as Hell's Blaze, and she was actually out on jobs during the events of Kira killing one of the guild members and Matsurika's gang going out to Emblaze Island. She didn't feel like going back to that dark guild, especially after how she had some history with it that intertwined with Samantha, and the red-haired model narrowed her pink eyes as she hoped that her boss would be understanding. She slowly walked on the grey tiled floor of the rooftop while seeing the famous fashion designer in front of the black crystal, and Mayumi cleared her throat loudly.

"Hello, ma'am. I've decided to quit working for you. I don't like how I'm so close to getting fired, but it's time for me to move on." Mayumi told Samantha in a calm tone while not being able to see her boss start to smirk.

Samantha asked her in a rude manner as she turned around, smirking while her grey eyes showed little emotion, "Do you really think I care, Mayumi? Aren't you one of the weakest models, anyway?"

Mayumi told her while still staying tough, not backing down, "I don't like being a receptionist, and you always bumped me down when new models came in. You just throw away models very quickly, but I'm throwing you away because you're a low-end boss."

Upon hearing that she was low-end, Samantha could only walk up to Mayumi and harshly slap her across the face while she frowned. Samantha told her to say that again, and she dared her to repeat those words. The woman with wavy blonde hair brought up how she now recognized Mayumi from a past incident where she was at an autograph signing in Kasai Town, and Mayumi's young guild mate with red hair chose to steal the red book that was next to Samantha. He took it right off of the table and ran off with it, and Mayumi merely helped him escape.

The model with pink eyes told her to just get over it, as that incident occurred a month before Kira Blazia stole the book from Hell's Blaze, and a little thief's partner couldn't really take any blame if the stolen item was stolen by someone else. Mayumi soon noticed that the black crystal was gently situated in the middle of a black aura that formed a heptagon around it, and three auras now floated slightly above the black aura. They were red, orange, and yellow while being directly above the three upper corners of the heptagon, and the sight was unsettling.

Those auras corresponded to the fights that Lucy won, and the auras took some of her friends home while they'd stay here to be darkened by the evil aura of the black crystal. Mayumi asked Samantha about what she was planning to do at the end of the Rainbow Mastery challenge, but that only made Samantha begin to laugh in an arrogant manner while she would not possibly think of telling that information to a mere weakling like Mayumi. In fact, she was ready to make the situation be somewhat darker.

Samantha asked Mayumi if she would like to reconsider her words about resigning, as it was her last chance to get any sort of mercy from the designer, and the model shook her head in a refusing manner. She slowly backed away from Samantha while seeing her facial expression become more vicious, and Mayumi began to see a black aura engulf Samantha's body. She soon got hit with a powerful ball of black energy that sent her crashing against the wall, and Mayumi coughed up some blood as she felt her shoulders be dislocated from the harsh impact.

"If I have you under contract, why do you even think it's necessary to leave? You really think you can turn your back on me?" Samantha angrily asked Mayumi while slowly walking towards her, ready to make her death occur.

Mayumi replied nicely as she coughed up some blood, smiling softly, "I already turned my back on you by quitting. In fact, I hope Lucy chooses to not work for you. She should just leave this company."

Samantha told her employee while she kept frowning, riled up by Mayumi's words, "Lucy will gladly work for me as a good employee. In fact, she can replace you!"

As Mayumi struggled to stand up and began walking towards the black doors, Samantha soon waved her left hand in a vicious manner to make a wave of black energy hit Mayumi! It struck the red-haired woman quite harshly, causing her to scream in pain, and Mayumi fell to the groud. Her back was in an immense amount of pain, and she soon saw a black hole stretch outward from Samantha's body. Black clouds of smoke surrounded the hole while Mayumi crawled away, only seeing endless darkness in the hole, but Samantha was not done.

She levitated into the air while watching the darkness touch Mayumi's feet while it seemed like she would be sucked into it, and Samantha felt absolutely no remorse from hearing Mayumi struggle to escape. She watched the pink-eyed model look helpless while the darkness kept spreading, engulfing more of her body, and Mayumi surprisingly plucked out one of her red hairs. She threw it forward while blowing it towards the pair of black doors, and Mayumi simply let herself get sucked into the darkness. Her last act was merely giving a thumbs-up, and then the dark hole began to shrink.

It soon disappeared while Samantha stopped levitating, and she could only shake with the feeling of victory while forgetting to make the darkness explode. She soon laughed evilly about how she took down that mouthy Mayumi, and no one would stand in her way of being at the top in Fiore. She clenched her fists while thinking that Lucy was very powerful, but there was no way that a famous woman like Samantha Kalos would allow herself to be dethroned from this company by a mere mage who was in the Sabertooth guild.

Samantha even thought that Lucy would just run the company down into the ground if she were its next president, and there was one other thing that Samantha could not stand to lose. In fact, finding all of the Rainbow Crystals in the year X791 and waiting for someone else to do it was how she really got her ultimate fame. Using magic from the Black Arts to defeat that person who deemed themselves as the champion in the ancient challenge allowed Samantha to become the current champion in this challenge, but she was still glad to have set everything up.

* * *

 **In the green room...**

The white light from Sting's attack soon faded away while everyone could feel its power, and Lucy opened her eyes to see that Takuya was pretty astounded by how Sting's attack completely destroyed his tornadoes. Lucy looked down at her mint green spell book to see that it was still pulsating in the dark green color, the same color that corresponded to Plant Magic, and the only way to defeat a mage like Hizuki would involve using her own magic against her. This room was full of plants, but what would Lucy's first spell even be?

She activated a spell known as Grass Bomb, and that caused two large green roses to appear on the palms of Lucy's hands. She began to spin around rapidly while this spell also worked with Wind Magic, and Lucy was sent flying up into the air. She watched the sunlight shine down on roses, before putting her palms together, and a green ball of energy formed in between the roses. Lucy threw it down at Hizuki while the sunlight made the attack become jungle green, and exhaling a large amount of wind to boost the attack's speed was pretty clever.

It was nice payback to see Hizuki get caught in a jungle green blast of energy, and she screamed in pain from that strong attack. She was capable of striking back, however, and Hizuki placed her left hand on the ground. She made a large green vine emerge from underground to grab Lucy's left leg, before spinning her around the room, and Hizuki threw her upward. Lucy looked in her dark green spell book to see her next move, and it would certainly be an interesting one. In fact, even Hizuki would probably be surprised by it.

Lucy used the move known as Plant Growth, and it oddly caused a green seed to be fired from the center of her left hand. It hit the ground softly, before sprouting up into a green tree, and Lucy ended up falling on to the top of the leafy tree. She quickly jumped down while seeing Takuya send slicing mint green winds at it, due to Sting running near it, and Lucy was blown away from the tree by the harsh winds. It was soon sliced up into pieces that were engulfed in a dark green aura, and seeing Sting start to exchange punches with Takuya allowed Lucy to have a nice opening.

"All right, Hizuki! Try to deal with this!" Lucy exclaimed with a stern facial expression while running to the chopped up tree, applying Plant Magic to her feet.

Hizuki asked with a confident facial expression, "Do you really think simple projectiles will hit me?"

Lucy ran up to the stump of the tree, surprisingly hitting it with Zephyr's Breath, and she quickly kicked it towards Hizuki! Lucy did the same thing with four other parts of the tree, sending them all towards Hizuki, and the dark green blasts of energy surrounded Hizuki! They soon became mint green while making more wind blow through the room, but Hizuki was mostly damaged by the dark green ones. She was propelled up into the air while looking shocked at Lucy's strategy, and Hizuki was even more surprised to see Lucy jump up to be near her.

She activated the third new spell that was surprisingly known as Leaf's Absorbing Punch, and it caused some leaves from the trees to fly upward. They went on to Lucy's right fist while making a jungle green aura surround it, and she struck Hizuki's body with five fierce punches! Each punch absorbed some of Hizuki's magical power, making her be in more pain, but she grabbed some of the leaves to eat them. Hizuki swallowed Lucy's leaves and struck her with a fierce kick, sending her falling down on to the grass, and the pain from Lucy's punches sent Hizuki falling down as well.

Sting and Takuya respectively ran to the sides of Lucy and Hizuki, wanting to make sure that they were okay, but both of the girls easily managed to stand up while they wanted to continue this fight. Lucy activated her fourth spell that was simply known as Leaf's Kaze Rose, and it required her right hand to be placed on the ground. Lucy followed the instructions while looking at some white roses that were nearby, and a dark green wave of energy soon went in their direction. This fourth spell made those roses turn dark green while the sunlight made them become jungle green, and this fourth spell actually led into the fifth spell.

Hizuki gave Takuya a serious look while she planned to activate one of her most powerful spells, possibly having as much power as Zephyr Hurricane, and the green-haired guy merely adjusted his glasses as he looked somewhat puzzled. Hizuki was going to bring out a powerful move in this fight while not caring if Takuya tried to enhance its power? Normally, she would be the one in their duo to think rationally about the next spell to be used while Takuya would do something for the sheer fun of it. As Takuya told her that he was okay with it, he saw Hizuki change her serious look into a smile.

 _"Wow, Hizuki. You're always so focused and serious, but you actually seem like this fight is very enjoyable. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to hear you at least chuckle today."_ Takuya thought to himself as he looked psyched up about what his friend would do.

Hizuki shouted fiercely while looking up at the sunlight in the room, before making her left hand touch Takuya's right hand, "Come forth, Frenzy Leaf Tornado!"

She watched five tornadoes of dark green leaves come down from the sky, seeing them spin in a slow manner while they were pretty large, and Hizuki watched Takuya fire a beam of wind up at them. His powerful Wind Magic made the tornadoes move around in a circle while they began to spin faster, and Takuya fired three more beams of wind up at them. They were now spinning quite fast while being extremely powerful, and the cyclones of Plant Magic quickly came down to the battlefield. How would Lucy counter them?

She chose to activate the fifth new spell that was known as Leaf's Petal Dance, and Lucy watched Hizuki send the tornadoes in her direction. She chose to spin in the counterclockwise direction that the high winds were going in, allowing her to work with the air flow, and Lucy's spell caused the green roses from earlier to go into the air. All of the petals came off the stems while they spun around with the air, taking in the wind, and the petals gained more speed while Lucy commanded them to strike Hizuki's tornadoes.

Takuya actually thought those small petals would do nothing, but those five groups of rose petals collided with the tornadoes to create large blasts that were jungle green. They were quickly met with Hizuki's dark green blasts being within them, and the two girls were evenly matched again. The green clouds of smoke faded away while some footsteps could be heard by Sting, and he soon heard someone shake a tree. When all of the smoke was gone, he saw Hizuki looking down at seven green leaves on the ground while she continued to confidently smile.

She infused Plant Magic into the leaves, watching them turn into large trees, and Hizuki's Plant Magic caused a copious amount of leaves to fall from the trees. She positioned the backs of her hands to be below the leaves, and Hizuki's magic arranged the leaves to where they formed rose petals to look like corsages. The leaves were covered in sticky green goop, and Hizuki picked more leaves from the tree to eat them. This was actually an upgraded version of Leaf's Grassy Mega Drain, and it was known as Leaf's Grassy Giga Drain.

"Here I come, Lucy!" Hizuki exclaimed in a serious tone, as she jumped up into air while preparing to come down near Lucy.

Lucy responded fiercely while looking in her spell book, "Sixth new spell, I call upon thee! Leaf's Forest Blade!"

As seven green leaves appeared on Lucy's arms and merged together to create dark green blades that were quite sharp, she was too late. Hizuki came down near her and slammed the corsages against her chest, and the women were surrounded by a dark green aura that was around the corsages. Lucy screamed in pain as she felt her magical power be sapped away, and it was being transferred to Hizuki. Her wounds began to heal while she smiled at Lucy, thinking that this match would not end in a draw, and Lucy didn't feel strong enough to make a full slice with her blades.

She attempted to slice Hizuki's arms with her blades, only to see them barely touch her arms, but Lucy soon felt Sting's hands grab her shoulders from behind while he helped Lucy make those sharp cuts on Hizuki's wrists. The orange-eyed woman who had her jungle green hair in a ponytail backed away from Lucy while feeling lots of pain, blood dripping on to the grass, and the slicing power of those blades was strong enough to injure Hizuki's arms. She wasted no time with walking towards the trees to eat some leaves that would heal her up for the last spell, and it would hopefully decide the winner.

Lucy had enough power to use her own last spell, but then she would be too exhausted to continue. Sting noticed that his girlfriend was bruised and exhausted, but they could definitely show Takuya and Hizuki that their teamwork was better. Sting used a new spell called White Dragon's Radiant Bow, and it caused a white bow and seven arrows made from light to be in his left hand. He shot the arrows at the trees, causing them to explode while white blasts of light were created, and the sunlight shined through them quite brightly.

Those beams of sunlight made Lucy feel like she had an opening, even if it was too bright for her to even see Hizuki, and Lucy activated the final spell that was known as Leaf's Botanical Storm. This spell caused a drill of dark green leaves to form around Lucy's left hand, and it was quite large. The beams of sunlight caused it to quadruple in size while it became jungle green, and the gigantic drill soon split into four smaller drills. There was no telling if the drills would hit Hizuki, but what move would she end up using?

Hizuki shouted fiercely while she could see something coming through the light, not wanting to lose, "Leaf Garden's Solar Beam!"

That caused her to aim her hands upward, making five large green beams of sunlight come down from the sky, and Takuya created mint green spheres of wind that were fired at them. Hizuki's beams gained more speed while the leaves she created even sent their power into the beams, and they headed straight for Lucy. One of them struck the grass when Lucy dodged it, resulting in a dark green blast of Plant Magic occurring while it struck the ground, and the other four beams moved at high speeds while they came down upon Lucy to create a massive blast. She screamed in pain while feeling their immense strength, but who would win? '

The light faded away for her to see Lucy's drills be surrounded by a jungle green aura, rapidly spinning while they only gained power from the waves of energy created by Hizuki's final attack, and the moment that the drills came within striking distance was the moment that Hizuki realized that it was over. She was soon struck by the four drills that made four massive jungle green blasts occur, and the aftereffect of this spell made scythe-like winds blow through the room. They ended up striking everyone, even dealing serious damage to Takuya's body, and Sting ran towards him while preparing to finish the fight.

Takuya got back up on his feet in time to see white light engulf Sting's fists, and four strong punches sent him rolling across the grass. Takuya got to see the smoke slowly clear up to reveal that Hizuki was badly wounded from taking that powerful attack while she was standing near a tree, and Takuya slowly stood up. He ran to her side while being concerned, hoping that she would not die, and the green-haired skateboarder noticed that his skateboard never moved from its original location. Hizuki just wanted to stand on it at the beginning of the match like a captain, and she also needed more skateboarding lessons to actually perform some of Takuya's dangerous tricks.

The smoke also faded away to reveal that Lucy was also bruised and bloodied from taking Hizuki's powerful attack directly, and both girls panted heavily as they looked at each other with smiles of respect. Lucy's fights against Takuya or Hizuki ended in a draw both times, but would anyone actually win? Hizuki took some steps forward while Lucy was hardly able to move, but Takuya and Sting gasped a bit from seeing Hizuki fall on to the grass. Lucy was still standing, and she fell to her knees while the green doors on both sides began to open up.

Takuya told Lucy with a proud look on his face as he ran to her side, making a tornado of wind engulf her body, "I'll heal you up, Lucy! Man, that was an awesome battle! You and Hizuki held nothing back, unlike Sting."

Sting replied in a somewhat offended manner, folding his arms, "Hey, I wasn't just playing around! You're just mad that you won't get to see who gets more pain than you in a few minutes."

Takuya put Lucy into a mint green cyclone that healed her wounds while the winds were gentle, showing her that not all wind was destructive, and the cyclone soon faded away while Lucy felt revitalized. Takuya used the same healing tornado on Hizuki while feeling glad that she fought so hard, and getting to see most of her spells was amazing. In fact, he only healed her up for ten seconds because of how some of the leaves circled around Hizuki to heal her body with their magic. This was certainly a good battle, in Takuya's opinion, and he got Hizuki out of the cyclone to let her gently stand on the skateboard.

Hizuki felt much better while Takuya was on the back of the skateboard, and seeing him proudly hug her for that amazing battle actually caused her cheeks to blush a light shade of pink. As Lucy and Sting turned back to wave goodbye to their friends, the mint green aura entered the room. Hizuki and Takuya chose to skate right back into it, causing them to be warped back to Kazehana Town, and they would certainly hope for Lucy to succeed in the rest of this challenge. Hizuki may have done most of the explosive fighting, but Takuya's wind and intelligent made their team be quite a fearsome threat.

The green doors proceeded to close in front of Lucy and Sting while the blue doors on the other side of the hallway began to open, and everyone could only turn around slowly to face them. Lucy's group stood there in silence while she did not even move an inch toward the doors, having a strong feeling about who was waiting for her on the next floor, and the blonde-haired wizard actually gulped a bit before gently biting down on her lower lip. Sting gently touched Lucy's left hand with his right hand as he thought about what would happen, and he wouldn't just rush up there.

Even though those blue doors just led up to the fifth room, Lucy couldn't celebrate. She could only attempt to make large amounts of strength enter her eyes, thinking back to that fateful day in the icy tundra near Eisetsu Town, and Lucy was not going to let her confidence waver. If her Water Magic was strong enough to evolve in the middle of a battle against Jenny and be seriously strong, then she was going to show her new strength to the woman who she truly saw as one of her rivals during the ancient challenge. However, let's just say that someone else had been looking forward to this fateful battle as well.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 44? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Sorry if Takuya and Hizuki didn't show every combination of their great teamwork. I only wanted Hizuki to truly have some more development, but their chemistry is pretty interesting. As for the next battle, I'm so excited for it! Also, reviews are always appreciated! I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed, favorited, and followed this story!**


	45. Chapter 45

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Eisetsu's Elites! Lucy vs. Clair! Sting vs. Hayato!**

* * *

Strength filled Lucy's cocoa brown eyes while her fists were clenched, and she began to take soft steps towards the next set of white stairs. Sting slowly walked beside her while grinning, glad that the day finally arrived for this score to be settled, and the light dragon slayer was definitely more prepared this time. Lucy seemed to be more prepared as well, and she exhaled a soft breath while feeling cold air come down the stairs. It would not overtake her, though, and Lucy was intent on being the winner in this next fight. In fact, she'd show off her best skills with Water Magic.

Sting was glad to see Lucy be so pumped up for this fight, really looking like she was ready to beat her blue-haired rival down into the ground, and it was a major difference from how she seemed so intimidated when she told him about crossing paths with Clair. Lucy trained so hard with her Water Magic for it to be very powerful, even making it be scalding hot with a very fierce temperature, and she would not let all of her hard work go to waste. As Lucy kept walking, though, she saw Sting proceed to run up the stairs. She could only run after him while feeling ready to fight, and the blue doors closed behind them.

The two mages from the Sabertooth guild had their hands on the blue railings while they walked up the stairs, approaching the blue doors that recently parted from each other to let some cold air out, and adjusting from the white stairs to a field of light blue ice was somewhat tricky. When Sting immediately set foot on the ice, he slid left and right while attempting to maintain his balance. Lucy walked forward, only to fall on her rear, and both mages took notice of how there were five large pillars of ice in this large room. The walls were a regular shade of blue like the water in the circular lake that was in the center of the battlefield, and all the ice certainly made this room be cold.

Lucy and Sting were surprised to only see Hayato standing across from them while he wore a dark blue tuxedo with dark blue pants to match, and the blue-eyed male also wore his black dress shoes while easily walking around on the ice. He merely clapped his hands five times to show Lucy and Sting some respect for getting here, as he did wonder if the first challengers for today would even be able to reach this point without dying, and the lake's water began to bubble while clouds of steam rose up from it. Before Lucy could ask why Clair wasn't here, the sight of her blue-haired rival aggressively jumping out of the water was quite shocking.

"It's quite a pleasure to see you again, Lucy and Sting. It really is an honor to fight people from the guild that won in the Grand Magic Games, and I hope you've both improved." Hayato politely told them as he bowed respectfully for a moment, smiling calmly.

Clair told him in a stern manner, before smiling confidently at Lucy, "Even though you got picked for the Elite Seven instead of me, I'm battling Lucy. That power she displayed to that substitute snowboarding instructor is definitely worth my time."

Lucy told Sting in a calm tone while setting the book down and getting out the pink case, "For someone who's involved with high-end fashion, Samantha's pretty strange to consider Hayato to be more elite than Clair."

Lucy was quick to place the Cerulean Crystal on her book to make it become blue, and she put the case back into the right pocket of her dress. She was now ready to battle, just like how Clair was ready, and Lucy activated the spell called Aqua Cloud. It caused a blue cloud of rain to appear high in the air, nearly touching the ceiling, and rain soon poured down on the entire room. The blue ball of Water Magic came down from the cloud while it gained speed and power on its descent, and it was about to hit Clair. However, Lucy's rival merely saw it as a test.

She put her right hand on the ice while touching the ice with some stress, and Clair pushed herself in the direction to gain enough force for a nice spin. She began to spin around while the hot water emerged from the lake to form a twister around her, and Clair's skills with ice skating allowed her to spin clockwise quite fast while the twister rotated in that direction. Lucy's attack and Clair's defense collided, resulting a blue blast of Water Magic occurring, but the smoke quickly faded away to reveal that Clair wasn't even damaged by that attack.

The puddles of water in the room were perfect for Clair to create five drills of blue water, making one charge at Lucy while the other four were behind it in a straight line, but the water was also great for Lucy's idea to activate Aqua Blue Cyclone. The drill of water surrounded her right hand while it spun rapidly, but Lucy made four bubbles of water rise up from the puddles to enhance the power of her drill. The drill propelled itself off of her hand, and it headed straight for Clair's projectiles. The two attacks collided again, Clair's four drills hitting the main one to back it up, but another blue blast transpired while the girls were evenly matched again.

Lucy decided to follow up with the Aqua Pinball spell, and that made a blue ball of water rise up from one of the puddles while five twisters of blue water rose up from the others. The twisters touched the ball to be absorbed by it, increasing its density, and a blue aura began to engulf Lucy's body. She aggressively punched the ball while sending it towards Clair, who dodged to her right, and the girls weren't the only ones who were ready to fight. Sting merely folded his arms while looking at Hayato, who simply spun gracefully on the ice, and he would take him down.

"White Dragon's Holy Ray!" Sting shouted fiercely while making his hands surprisingly form a mouth, his blue eyes filled with seriousness.

Hayato calmly stated as he looked up at Lucy's cloud, before narrowing his eyes, "Icy Aurora Freeze."

The rain from Lucy's cloud began to cease while the battlefield was now quite wet, but her cloud changed from being a regular shade of blue to being light blue. In five seconds, several thin beams of ice emerged from the cloud at high speeds! Most of them collided with Sting's beams of light, making explosions occur in midair, and some of them hit the battlefield to create medium-sized icicles. Hayato watched the light blue explosions occur on the ground, wondering what Sting would do next, and he couldn't see through the smoke.

Hayato was surprised to see Sting coming down from above, meaning that he used the smokescreen as a cover for jumping up, and some of the explosions propelled him forward to where he'd now be above Hayato. Sting came down on him with a harsh punch to the face, sending Hayato sliding back, and Sting followed that up by using White Dragon's Roar at point-blank range. That attack was twice the size that it had been in their previous battle, and Hayato was slammed back against the wall. He merely dusted himself off and would not give up, however.

The blue-haired male inhaled some air and exhaled it towards Sting, causing seven icicles to form a circle around him, but Hayato oddly smiled at Sting jumping upward while the icicles slammed against each other. Hayato's skills with Ice Magic allowed him to apply it to his left foot for a powerful stomp, sending some chunks of ice up at Sting, and they exploded when they struck him. Light blue explosions occurred while Sting felt the pain of this attack, and seeing Hayato jump up to send him crashing down with a kick to his stomach certainly meant that Sting wasn't the only person who got stronger.

Clair continued to dodge Lucy's pinball while she picked up one of Hayato's ice chunks, and she stuffed the large piece of ice into her mouth. She made the water in her mouth be scalding hot, melting the ice to where she could swallow it, and two auras surrounded her body. One was light blue while the other was dark blue, and this spell was known as Frost Speed. Lucy recalled seeing Clair use it, but the sight of her zooming off at high speeds was not intimidating. Lucy merely clenched her fists while standing tall like a waterfall of dense water, and she kept seeing the pinball bounce around the room.

"Are you just planning to stand there?" Clair sternly asked Lucy while running towards her, seeing the blonde-haired girl stay perfectly still.

Lucy replied calmly as she turned her head, listening for her pinball's position, "Maybe I will just stand here, Clair."

That response was met with five vicious punches to her arms and legs, along with getting kneed in the stomach twice, and Lucy coughed up some blood while she slid back ten feet. Lucy panted while holding her blue book in a somewhat shaky manner, and she saw Clair run up to her. Some water made a drill appear on Clair's right hand, and she was going to make it go right through Lucy's stomach. She was sent flying across the room from an explosion that occurred while the Aqua Pinball harshly hit her left side, and the blue blast of Water Magic sent Lucy flying upward!

As Lucy soon went downward to make a somewhat large splash in the scalding hot lake of water, she held her breath while wincing in pain from Clair's fierce attack. The water was dense like the water from last year's Naval Battle, but Lucy was also able to breathe. Clair would most likely come down into the lake and finish this fight, but Lucy could not give up. Even though this fight could go either way, she needed to see if her evolved spells could shift the watery tide of the battle. She looked down to see that the lake was quite deep, so all of this hot water could well with a nice amount of cold ice.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, on the fifth floor...**

Kira and Rogue ran up to the fifth floor to see that the walls were dark blue while the tiled floor was light blue, but all of the protagonists from the Sabertooth guild were quite surprised to see five security guards walking around. The path to the next set of stairs was strangely straight ahead while a blue pair of doors was on the right side of the hallway, and there were only five rooms for employees on this floor. Kira crept towards one of the rooms to see that the blue wooden door was locked while the voices of businessmen could be heard, and they didn't seem to mind working today.

Rogue went towards a room that was further up the hall, but he soon heard a security guard look alarmed while also seeing him hold a Lacrima Communications Crystal in his left hand. The security guard seemed quite concerned while starting to speak of how something was moving around in the storage room, but the other guards began to give him a puzzled look. The fashion company's storage room was actually locked while the only guard on that floor today had the key, but someone was supposedly able to get in. Beating down a guard was a good reason to haul someone out of the building, and two guards went up the long set of stairs.

The other three guards stayed behind while not even caring that Rogue and Kira proceeded to walk by them, since they were now focusing on the situation of someone breaking into a room of their company, and the storage room really just contained some past designs. Some fashionable products were also there as well, but any unauthorized people who got their hands on them could possibly take photos or send them to another fashion company. Samantha's designs that were good while not being seen by the public were only known to this company, so it was understandable why the guards were worried.

Kira and Rogue walked over to the pair of blue doors, feeling the cold air in the hallway, and the two Exceeds began to shiver while they could sense a high amount of magical power coming from that room. Frosch turned around in a carefree manner to see a purple pair of doors directly across from where the group stood, and he wondered if they would let him in. Frosch walked over to those doors while loudly asking if he could get to see if the room was pretty, and that got the attention of the security guards. In fact, two of them ran over to the group with frowns on their faces.

"Wow, what a stressful day. There's that intruder in the storage room, and we just let punks slip by us." The guard with shoulder-length brown hair calmly said as he adjusted his black sunglasses.

The guard's partner who had red hair in a bowl-cut hairstyle assumed as he looked at the mages, seeing them look at the closed doors, "You're supposed to go inside from the other entrance. After going up four floors, it should be easy to remember."

Kira told the guards with a smile on her face as she heard people scream on the next floor, "If I were you, I'd be more concerned with that."

The two guards and their friend soon heard a woman upstairs talk about how the guards shouldn't have messed with her, and she also giggled while saying that they were the unfortunate victims of Mumargi Town's maniacal fighting style. Some footsteps appeared to come down from the stairs, even though the woman only made it seem like she would walk towards the large group of people, but the guards on the fifth floor began to tremble in fear from what they saw. To Kira and Rogue, the sight was more creepy than fear-inducing.

The woman lowered her arms to where the guards could see that the woman's arms went right through the other guards' hearts while blood drooled from their mouths, and she made flames engulf her hands while the bodies of those guards began to get engulfed in flames as well. The woman started to laugh evilly while up the stairs backwards, and she removed her arms from the bodies of the two guards. They went rolling down towards the three guards who were incredibly freaked out, and Kira watched two of them run away in a hasty manner while the other one went upstairs.

She wondered about who was up on the next floor, since Misora would not act like a maniac with Darkness Magic, and Kira asked Rogue aloud if Lucy would have to fight one of Kyouji's former followers. The dark mages in that town didn't exactly seem like the nicest people in Fiore when the protagonists first visited it, and they definitely earned their right to give out Requiem Crystals in the ancient challenge. Kira was actually glad she didn't see all the spells of Darkness Magic, since some of them were actually horrifying, and there were even spells deemed too dangerous for kids to learn.

In fact, Kira wondered if Lucy would have to face someone whose spells were more horrifying than dangerous. The red-haired merchant actually heard some dark mages talk while she was out on a job one day, and they spoke of kids grabbing the flame-shaped handles of purple balloons during Kyouji's rule over the town. Those balloons were actually spells created by malicious dark mages, and any kids who grabbed the balloons would float up into the air while they would continue to go higher. When the balloons ascended pretty high, they would supposedly explode and let their dark energy suck out the souls of the children.

"Rogue, how was Mumargi Town able to give out crystals while Ruinous Crows was a dark guild?" Kira asked her boyfriend as she seemed curious about that, since it was a very interesting fact.

The shadow dragon slayer kindly responded while thinking about it, "Well, the Requiem Crystal goes with Lucy's Darkness Magic. It's appropriate for a dark town like Mumargi to give out that crystal, and Ruinous Crows can't really be a legal guild. Based on their dark mages specializing in Darkness Magic, the Magic Council would not see them as good role models for anyone who wanted to join a legal guild. The same can be assumed for Tsukiari Town's dark guild and their specialty in Poison Magic, too."

Kira was impressed with Rogue's answer, and she wondered if that woman upstairs was part of the Elite Seven. It would be pretty interesting for her to be one of the seven mages who Samantha chose to be an elite employee today, and Kira wondered why the famous fashion designer was not on any of the floors. She did not come up to any of the floors or even come down the stairs, which made Kira wonder if Samantha would be too busy to even check on Lucy's progress, but Kira did hope to cross paths with Samantha soon.

Meeting her at the end of the challenge would be nice, since she would probably let everyone have some chocolate cake as a nice way to celebrate, and Kira would definitely praise the red dresses made in this company. She also hoped to get something autographed by Samantha, even if it would just be her name written on a burger by using ketchup, and Kira began to happily grin while hoping that the party would start soon. For a beautiful fashion designer who seemed to have things planned, she was not great at planning proper parties.

* * *

 **Elsewhere, in the office...**

Samantha decided to leave the rooftop and go back to her office that was on the seventh floor, and the blonde-haired woman sat down in her black chair that was at her black desk while she decided to just wait around for Lucy. She would most likely reach this floor in a few hours, and Samantha would not want her to rush. After all, seeing a good model finally reach the top of fame was something great. Samantha planned to enjoy congratulating Lucy if she managed to reach this floor, and she'd certainly be proud of her.

Samantha glanced at her onyx black case that was on the center of her desk, knowing that the crystals were still on the ground floor, and she wondered if it was a mistake to not have a receptionist on the ground floor right now. Getting rid of Mayumi was something that had to be done, since she had seen far too much and been too mouthy, but now Samantha would have no one to handle anyone who was on the ground floor. As she was about to tap the blue Lacrima Communications Crystal that was on her desk, it began to ring loudly.

"Hello?" Samantha asked nicely while tapping the crystal, before seeing the brown-haired guard's face appear in the orb.

The guard who held the crystal stated in a frightened manner, "Madam President, please listen! Someone broke into the storage room on the sixth floor, and they held the guards on their arms like puppets! It was horrifying, and we can't fight that!"

Samantha asked him coldly as she began to menacingly frown, "You idiots didn't think about guarding that floor better? You do realize you're fired, don't you? Do you understand that the attacker now has the key to my past designs?"

The brown-haired security guard informed Samantha that he was right by the staircase with his co-workers, and they did not hear the sound of the key turning in the lock to indicate that the key was used. There wasn't even an explosion to make the lock be destroyed, and the guard simply told Samantha that the guard on the sixth floor informed him that something made a noise in there. He hoped that there were not rats in the fashion company, since a health inspector would make the place be shut down, and Samantha turned off the Lacrima Crystal.

Her fists began to be clenched as she bit down on her lower lip, and Samantha really hoped that she didn't invite a thief into her company. Those past designs could be replicated by another company, resulting in profits for their business, but Samantha could not call for more security guards. After all, the first guard who freaked out on the fifth floor was now causing a panic in the company by speaking of how there was an insane intruder lurking on the sixth floor. She could only sigh loudly, and it was a shame that some people took the day off from work.

Going downstairs to handle the matter herself seemed like a good idea, but it would ruin the fun of letting Lucy see her up at the highest floor. Samantha thought about how the green aura recently rose up to be at the rooftop, which meant that Lucy was now at her fifth battle involving the Elite Seven, and she wondered if Lucy would be too tired to face her. That would honestly make Samantha giggle, since she did like the fact that weak people would follow her every command, and the fashion designer would even let Lucy ask for mercy.

Samantha slowly got up from her chair to walk towards a black coffee machine that had lovely black mugs underneath coffee dispensers, and she pressed an orange button on the coffee machine to make pumpkin spice coffee go down into the cup that she would drink from. The hot coffee filled the mug while Samantha opened up three sugar packets to put sugar in her drink, and Samantha pressed a white button to make a nice swirl of whip cream be on top of her drink. As Samantha pressed a dark brown button for sprinkles to be dispensed on to her drink, her Lacrima Communications Crystal rang loudly again.

She asked in an irritated manner after walking over to the black desk and seeing the red-haired guard from the fifth floor, "What is it now?"

The guard explained with a nervous facial expression as he was now on the sixth floor, letting the storage room's door creak open, "Miss Samantha, the lock is still on the door. However, something just made it creak open from inside. It's dark, but it looks like I can see-"

Samantha asked in a startled tone from hearing the guard suddenly scream in horror, "What's going on down there?"

She got to see the guard's face disappear from the crystal while it went blank, signifying that the call was forcibly ended, and Samantha wondered what was going on. The storage room was where mostly unimportant items were kept, except for the past designs. Those things were not important to her at all, especially since she could just let them rot in certain rooms on that floor, but then her eyes widened with worry. That storage room may have just stored things away, but Samantha couldn't hide everything forever.

Her pumpkin spice coffee was now bubbling like her desire to not let a certain secret be found out, as it could really ruin her company, and Samantha began to tremble. If magazines ever discovered this secret of hers, then she would be done for. Some models even questioned her about where their friends had gone to, causing her to simply tell them that they headed home, and the beautiful woman with blonde hair also had to tell some of the families of missing models that they died on jobs. They couldn't sue her, however, and that was because of Samantha saying in their contracts that she wasn't responsible for any of their actions outside of modeling.

The storage room actually had a secret that rarely anyone could find, since no one besides Samantha bothered to look close enough for it to appear, and that secret was actually kept safe by one of her purple-haired models who used Darkness Magic. Dark mages were the only ones who really worked with that clever secret involving the floor, but let's just say that Samantha was not the only person who had experience with something happening from touching a certain spot of the floor. In fact, Samantha had every right to be worried.

She went back to her coffee for the purpose of taking several sips, really liking how it tasted so good, and Samantha slowly stopped trembling while she started to narrow her grey eyes at the fact that some people in the Elite Seven were having a little too much fun with being on certain floors. Whoever was working on the sixth floor today certainly enjoyed their unauthorized entry into the storage room, and they were probably checking out other rooms that were off-limits. Even though Samantha could pick out great fashion choices, the people she chose for the Elite Seven definitely brought her and Lucy some surprises.

* * *

 **In the blue room...**

Lucy swam up to the icy battlefield while deciding to get out of the scalding hot water, and her blue spell book was still pulsating in a light blue color. The mage from Sabertooth activated her first new spell, and it was known as Icy Hailstorm. This move caused a light blue cloud to appear near the ceiling, and it began to glow brighter while sending large chunks of ice down to the battlefield. Clair and Hayato both managed to dodge many of the ice chunks, watching them create light blue blasts, but the wizards from Winter Snowflake were surprised to see spiky balls of ice be left behind.

Clair made a large twister of water rise up from the lake, and it headed straight for Lucy. Clair's attack collected three of the spiky balls, however, and it soon exploded while many icicles were sent flying to the different parts of the room. Clair managed to catch five of them while Hayato kicked some of them towards Lucy, but Sting looked pretty surprised while he got to see Lucy smile confidently. She really wanted to test something out, hoping that this would work again, and Lucy would not stop smiling until the end of this next move.

She activated the move called Icy Cerulean Cyclone, and this move made a blue drill of water surround Lucy's left fist. She let it make contact with the icicles that Hayato threw, resulting in the drill absorbing them, and their magical power allowed Lucy's drill to have four more drills stacked on it. They all spun in the clockwise direction while the ice made them become light blue, and Lucy headed straight for Clair. She used the ice to slide faster, and Lucy didn't care that Hayato was the member of the Elite Seven. In this fight, she wanted to get even with Clair.

The blue-haired woman made water engulf her right fist while it took the form of five large drills, and this was her finishing move that she almost hit Lucy with in their previous fight. The two girls watched their drills collide as they seemed to be evenly matched again, and neither of them would back down. Clair managed to take a step forward while pushing Lucy back, wanting to overpower her, but Lucy also took a step forward and made Clair start to slide back. Their drilling spells ended up exploded, sending them both slamming back against icicles, but Clair managed to get up while giving Lucy a respectful smile.

"You've certainly gotten stronger, Lucy. For you to have something evenly matched against one of my strongest spells, that means you've trained up to a pretty high level." Clair told her opponent while folding her arms, prepared to continue the fight.

Lucy replied while she stood up, smiling at her rival, "You're very strong as well, Clair. I've been looking forward to facing you again."

Clair watched Hayato touch some spiky balls of ice while he used his Ice Magic to reshape them into large icicles, and that prompted her to shoot out a scalding beam of water from her mouth. She put a good amount of magical power into it, causing the move to be quite large, and it ended up striking Lucy! She screamed in pain from being burned by it, but that didn't stop her from directing her left hand at one of Hayato's large icicles. She activated a new move known as Freeze Bubble, and this spell was conditional because it only worked when ice was around.

One of Hayato's icicles began to melt right before his eyes while the melting ice formed the shape of a ball, and a large blue bubble of water rose up from the lake. The melting ice ball went into the bubble, surprisingly making it become much colder, and a small bubble broke off from the larger one. It headed straight for Clair at high speeds while the icy wind rapidly swirled around in the bubble to give it lots of speed, and she was struck by the attack! It created a light blue explosion that was quite large, and Clair screamed in pain while the wind made some harsh slash marks appear on her body.

She retaliated by using her Water Magic to make blue claws of dense water engulf her hands, and the strong woman ran towards Lucy at high speeds. Clair watched Lucy make two more bubbles split from the larger one, but Clair was smart to grab them with her watery claws. They absorbed the bubbles, causing her claws to double in length, and Clair slashed at Lucy seven times while also dealing three punches to her face. Lucy managed to kick Clair in the stomach, knocking her down, and both girls were bloodied while they panted heavily.

Lucy jumped up while activating her next evolved spell that was known as Icy Ring, and it simply made a ring of icy energy be on her left palm. She threw it down towards Clair while making four bubbles split off from the larger one, and they surprisingly headed for the ring. The watery and icy energy in the bubbles exploded upon touching the ring, but their magical power made the icy ring be duplicated into five rings. Clair managed to stand up while seeing Lucy's projectiles head straight for her, but she would let them take her down easily.

"Allow me to show you the results of skating in the iciness of winter for several years." Clair coldly told Lucy while putting her hands together and slowly closing her eyes.

Lucy asked aloud as she came down to the ground, looking puzzled, "What is she planning to do?"

Clair began to spin around while only standing on her left leg, opening her eyes while she grabbed on to an icicle, and she began to skate around it in circles while the rings followed her. She soon let go of the icicle and spun around on one leg again, moving quite rapidly, and Clair moved quite fast while aggressively pushing herself away from some icicles as she began to smirk at Lucy. She rapidly headed towards her while keeping her hands together, demonstrating her expertise in ice skating, and Clair got pretty close to Lucy. The blonde-haired girl was about to strike her, but Clair sprang up into the air.

The first three rings couldn't change their direction in time while the last two went up towards Clair, and Lucy gasped in shock before three icy light blue blasts engulfed her! She screamed in agonizing pain while feeling the lower half of her body become frozen by large chunks of glacial ice, and Clair was soon hit by the other two rings! They froze her legs, but Clair made scalding hot water rise up from the lake to melt the ice. She soon fell down to the ground, but Clair dealt a harsh kick to the ice around Lucy's body with her left foot. Some chunks of ice went upward and came down to hit Lucy in the stomach, and Clair gave her an intimidating look.

Lucy activated another new spell, and it was known as Graceful Ice. This move made a light blue aura surround Lucy's body, and a white pair of boots made from ice appeared on her feet. They were like Clair's boots because of how they doubled as skates, and Lucy began to skate on the ice while feeling her legs be healed from the ice that numbed them. She touched two of the icicles, causing her speed to increase by twice its normal amount, and Lucy zoomed off to another icicle. She gently touched it to lets its energy make her speed be tripled, and Lucy headed straight for Clair.

She dealt several punches to her face in rapid succession, even punching her in the chest four times while fiercely looking directly into her eyes, but Clair responded by hitting Lucy with a powerful kick that sent her smashing through one of the icicles. Lucy quickly got back up to skate towards Clair and slam her left elbow against her foe's chest, only to see Clair hit her in the chest with her right knee, and both girls were certainly vicious in this icy fight. Sting was currently trying to punch Hayato, but the blue-haired male evaded every punch with graceful skating.

"Even though we've both taken lots of damage, it still seems like we're even." Lucy confidently told Clair while getting ready to use her next spell, not wanting to lose.

Clair nicely told her as she folded her arms while sliding backwards for a nice amount of distance, "You spoke too soon, Lucy. In fact, this next move may drown you and I do hope you have an umbrella spell in that book."

She aggressively stomped her feet down on the ice while building up magical power for this attack, and the waves of Clair's loud stomps made the water in the lake aggressively roar in response. It was like a powerful earthquake triggering a tsunami, and Clair quickly jumped on to the water while seeing it start to break through some parts of the ice. She was soon on top of a tsunami that appeared to be 77 feet high while its water was quite dense, and the tsunami gained more density from touching the glacial ice. Hayato quickly placed his hands on the ground to create a protective dome of ice, and Sting was astounded by how that tsunami looked so powerful.

Lucy groaned in frustration as wondered if her sixth evolved spell could handle that, but then her eyes widened as she remembered how Bacchus broke through Moka's muddy tidal wave. Lucy unleashed her new move that was known as Cryogenic Drill. This move caused six light blue beams of ice to rise up from the glacial chunks, and they took the form of six large light blue drills. Lucy made all of her drills strike the middle of Clair's tsunami, resulting in six massive explosions occurring, and cold winds blew through the room while Clair's tsunami split in half.

She directed the waves of water to slam down on Lucy, though, and the Sabertooth mage was struck by them. The water sent her crashing against the wall, and Lucy coughed up some blood. She watched Clair harshly fall down on to a floe of ice, but both girls still managed to stand up. They were now down to their final spells, and the one with more power would end up determining the winner of their rivalry. Lucy did not want to lose, and she began to inhale some of the water. Her final move would be strong, but could it overpower Clair?

Lucy used her final move that was known as Poseidon's Glacial Sea, and it caused her to shoot out a massive beam of ice from her mouth. It spiraled while being light blue, surprisingly not headed for Clair, and Lucy directed her left hand at the bubble that still floated in the air. She broke it apart into its last five bubbles, and they all headed straight for her beam. They let it go through them while taking in its extreme iciness, and cold air came from the bubbles while they formed a pentagon around Clair. The bubbles began to glow light blue, but Clair was not scared.

"Let's see if your spells of water are as strong as mine! Enjoy my Frosty Whirlpool, Lucy!" Clair shouted fiercely to Lucy, her blue eyes filled with the same fierceness that once made her hand stop in the middle of her final attack.

Lucy replied sternly as she clenched her left fist, glaring at Clair, "I felt like I totally lost to you once, but I won't lose again!"

Clair's spell made three large whirlpools rise up from the water, and they all went towards Lucy at incredibly high speeds! The blonde-haired girl winced in pain while seeing her bubbles simultaneously slam themselves against Clair, creating four blasts of Water Magic that formed a square while the light blue blast of Ice Magic was in the center, and Clair screamed in extreme pain from all the damage that she was taking. Her blue bodysuit was torn while she became more bloodied and bruised, and the icy winds slammed against her.

Clair's whirlpools created blue explosions when they hit Lucy, causing her to also scream in pain, and the pressure of her rival's water was immense. Lucy went underwater for a few moments while she could barely move, but she steadied herself against the wall while shaking from taking so much damage. The blue smoke cleared to reveal that Clair still stood on the ice floe while struggling to stand up, and Lucy stood against the wall as her vision began to fade. Clair fell into the water three seconds before Lucy did, and they certainly had a great fight.

Sting and Hayato could only look shocked at that outcome, and the icy winds broke apart Hayato's dome. Sting ran towards him at high speeds while using White Dragon's Roar again, only to see Hayato slam his palm down in the water to make a sufficient wall of glacial ice appear, and Sting's attack was reflected right back at him! He managed to jump up and dodge it, but Hayato would not let him get away with such a predictable move. He got on to an ice floe and jumped upward, and Hayato commanded a twister of water to rise up by aiming his left palm down at the circular lake.

The water surprised Sting while he could still see Hayato, and the light dragon slayer gasped from seeing his foe shoot out an icy shuriken from his mouth. The shuriken was quite large while it was light blue, and Hayato sent it spinning through the dense water that easily coated it. Sting was struck by the spell that created a light blue explosion, but he merely smiled as he fell down into the water. Hayato was someone who could respond appropriately to his moves, so Sting would just have to see how well he could handle a move he was thinking of using.

"I give you credit, Sting. You dragon slayers are quite durable, since any normal wizard would've been killed by that powerful attack." Hayato told his opponent in a calm tone while seeing him swim up to the surface.

Sting responded with a confident grin as he looked up to see that Lucy's cloud was still up in the air, "Well, I'm about to see how you like the ice."

Hayato curiously asked him as he raised his right eyebrow, only seeing some spiky ice balls floating around in the water, "What do you mean?"

The guild master of Sabertooth grinned in a cocky manner while picking up one of the projectiles that came from Lucy's spell, and he threw it back up towards the cloud while using White Dragon's Roar to propel it several more feet upward. Sting watched the ball make contact with the cloud, only to come back down in the form of an icy beam that was quite large, and it struck Hayato directly! He screamed as he was caught in the blast, not seeing that coming, and Sting felt that he could make up his lack of a fight against Takuya by getting clever with these next moves.

The smoke cleared up to reveal that Hayato was still standing, and he used his Ice Magic to create a light blue wolf. It let out a frosty roar in Sting's direction while unleashing a spiraling beam of ice, but Sting jumped upward while seeing that the attack's frosty temperature made the watery battlefield become encased in a thick layer of ice. He fired his White Dragon's Holy Breath down at the wolf, ultimately obliterating it, and his attack created a massive white blast of light. He heard Hayato's ice field crack while hearing his opponent jump from floe to floe, and this battle was quite fun.

Hayato unleashed another move called Frosty Breath, and he shot out a light blue beam from his mouth while it was surrounded by blue powder. This move hit one of the icicles that was still standing, before ricocheting to hit three more icicles, and the frost made some of the water freeze to where it was suspended in ice. Even waves that reached their high points were now frozen, and Hayato merely skated across the ice while seeing Sting come down to the field. The two men proceeded to exchange punches, and Hayato struck Sting in the face several times while Sting hit Hayato in the chest five times.

Sting proceeded to activate White Drive while also sending a large amount of power into his right fist, and he moved much faster. Hayato slammed his palms down on the ice to create two large jets of icicles that headed straight for Sting, only to see him dodge them, and the light dragon slayer made a spinning ball of white light form in his right hand. He threw it straight at Hayato while seeing it create a powerful blast, and the butler from Eisetsu Town began to get struck by powerful beams of light that emerged from within the blast. They came from all directions, leaving him with no way to evade them.

"It's time for me to end this! You immobilized me last time, but now you're the one who can't react fast enough!" Sting stated with a fierce facial expression as he ran across the ice, watching the light fade away to reveal that Hayato was bruised up from those dense beams of light.

Hayato shouted in a stern manner as he did not desire to lose, "We'll have to see if you can beat me, Sting! Try to withstand Icy Avalanche!"

As Sting got closer to Hayato, he suddenly stopped from seeing Hayato smash some ice with his fists to send it down into the deep water. The ice came back up in the form of five large twisters that were light blue like Hayato's ice, and they went up into the air. They were going to come down on Sting with full ferocity, resulting in five massive blasts that would definitely damage the entire room, but Hayato panted heavily from casting that spell while he saw Sting run towards him again. He jumped over the water while making light engulf his left hand, and this fight would end with one side winning.

Sting struck Hayato with his Holy Nova attack, creating a white blast that had enough force to make the water viciously roar as the ice broke apart, and Sting heard his foe scream in pain while he was sent crashing against the wall! Sting could tell that he was the winner, since Hayato's magical power was now at a faint level, and he simply grinned while powering down. The massive blast of light and the smoke clouds faded away to reveal that Hayato was badly bruised while he struggled to stand up, and his tuxedo was badly damaged while his clothes were quite wet.

Hayato saw Sting's blue eyes maintain the same look of fierceness that Lucy's eyes had when she fought Clair in the icy tundra, and he could only give Sting a respectable smile as the immense pain made him be unable to keep battling. The pairs of blue doors opened up while Sting proceeded to quickly walk over to Lucy, who slowly regained consciousness, and the user of White Dragon Slayer Magic would be so glad to tell her that he won their battle. Not only did Lucy finally beat Clair, but Sting managed to get his own redemption and beat a member of the Elite Seven.

Lucy saw Hayato walk over to Clair, who was badly wounded, but she didn't get to say anything before Sting carried her out of the room in a bridal-style manner. The blue aura appeared in the center of the room while Hayato picked up Clair, and he slowly walked over to it for the purpose of gently touching it. The blue aura warped Hayato and Clair back to the town of Eisetsu while the blue doors closed behind Lucy and Sting, and Kira was very happy to see that her friends were not dead. She felt like hugging Lucy, but Kira would need to heal her first.

As Sting set Lucy down on the blue tiled floor, Lector and Frosch watched the purple pair of doors open up. Sting panted while turning to face them, wondering who was on the next floor, but Lector suddenly felt the urge to back away. He took a few steps forward and sniffed the air, looking really repulsed as he chose to back away, and the twin dragon slayers also couldn't withstand the smell. Their noses were more sensitive than the noses of Kira and Lucy, but was the smell really that bad? Kira could detect something rather toxic on the next floor, but something also oddly smelled nice up there.

 _"I'm willing to guess that Kyouji might be up there, but even he wouldn't use magic that smelled so bad. Someone up there must've put on way too much cologne for their date, or their magic needs a lesson in not smelling so toxic. Still, that perfume is oddly nice."_ Kira thought to herself as she covered her nose with her right hand while proceeding to heal Lucy with the flame on her left hand.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 45? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Lucy and Sting finally beat Clair and Hayato, but Lucy is not done yet! The next chapter of this history arc will certainly be a crazy one, especially since Lucy might get to see that dark mages don't just play around in carnival games. I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story!**


	46. Chapter 46

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Poisonous Challenge! Lucy vs. Kenji!**

* * *

Kira used her Fire Magic to heal Lucy enough to where she would wake up, and the red-haired merchant helped her friend get out of the wet yellow dress that she was wearing. The girls had gone back down to the first floor for the purpose of getting Lucy a new dress, and she ended up finding a strapless one that was violet. It went well with her lacy white bra and lacy white underwear, but Lucy changed into some orchid purple flat shoes. She also picked up a purple bracelet of beads from that room, too, and Lucy wore it on her right wrist.

The girls were currently back on the fifth floor while they stood in front of the purple doors that had opened, watching the Requiem Crystal make the blue book become purple while the other protagonists went up the next flight of stairs solely to escape the bad smell, and this was an interesting situation for Kira. She assisted Lucy in her fight against Kyouji that took place in the Lavender Tower of Mumargi Town, but now she was a member of the Elite Seven who would be helping her friend take on another member of the Elite Seven. Would the fight be more challenging than the last one, though?

Lucy held her breath as she quickly walked up the white stairs, the toxic smell getting stronger with every step, and she soon arrived at the purple doorway that led into the violet room. Kira followed Lucy into the room while the purple doors behind them proceeded to close, and they looked straight ahead to see a familiar face. Kenji stood in the room that had an eerily purple glow because of purple flames lightning the black swinging chandelier overhead, and the purple floor was covered with puddles of bubbling poison that reeked of toxicity as some poisonous plants in the color of amethyst purple lined the walls.

Six trees were in the room while their leaves looked purple and unhealthy, a purple substance heavily dripping off of them to where it looked like goop, and Kenji merely chuckled as he was glad to see Lucy again. The blonde-haired girl took a few steps forward, only to start coughing from breathing in the poisonous gas, and Kira gasped as she began to smell that good scent from earlier. It smelled like lavender perfume mixed in with the fragrance of purple cherry perfume, but both of the girls soon felt the air behind them drop to an extremely cold temperature. As Lucy began to shudder, a hand with long feminine nails that were purple crept up her shoulder.

"Who's there?" Lucy asked as she slowly turned around with a startled facial expression, wondering who it could be.

The girl behind her replied in a sinister manner as she smirked evilly, quickly getting close to Lucy's face, "I'm... your worst nightmare!"

Kenji responded as he started to look somewhat embarrassed, "Just because I taught you Darkness Magic, you don't have to act as sinister as some of the other dark mages."

He introduced this girl to his friends, and she was Kikuko Tachiwaki from Tsukiari Town. She had purple eyes and violet hair that was kept back in a long ponytail, and Kikuko wore a purple skin-tight jumpsuit that matched the purple mask covering her mouth and her long purple gloves, and she began to rapidly spin over to Kenji's side while purple flames began to surround her body. She wore some brown sandals that exposed her bare feet, and this woman merely grinned at the sight of Lucy trembling. Like Kyouji and Akina, the Magic Council deemed her to be a very dangerous criminal.

Kenji sternly stated his name and said that he'd accept Lucy's challenge as a member of the Elite Seven, but he was nice enough to tell her that this was a tag-team battle. He also felt the need to inform her that Kikuko taught him several new spells and strategies that really boosted his Poison Magic, since Tsukiari Town's dark mages specialized in that, and Kenji repaid her by teaching her some great spells of Darkness Magic. The leader of Mumargi Town was paired with the leader of Tsukiari Town, so this battle would be quite interesting.

Lucy opened her purple book while deciding to start things off with the spell known as Dark Reisu. Lucy shot out a purple ball of dark energy from her mouth, firing it straight at Kenji, but she was surprised to see him belch out a large amethyst purple cloud of poison gas. Lucy's spell struck the cloud while it created an explosion of purple flames, and the poison gas spread out in large waves that had quite a strong odor. Seeing a spell get blocked almost immediately made Lucy see that Kenji would not play around like how Kyouji did, and he wouldn't repeat his older brother's mistake of getting arrogant when a spell was successful.

He watched Lucy activate the Solemn Flame spell, and a large purple flame appeared in front of her. She touched it causing it to split into many smaller flames, and they all headed towards Kenji. He countered them by firing an amethyst purple ball of poison from his mouth, and it surprisingly went up into the air. Kikuko used the gravity properties of her Darkness Magic to make some of Lucy's flames jump into her right hand, and she watched the rest of them get drenched by the ball of toxicity that exploded when Kenji snapped his fingers. That poison extinguished Lucy's flames, and she could only groan in frustration.

"He's blocked two of my spells now, and his partner can take my Darkness Magic to use as her own. Kenji can anticipate my attacks, but I have to make this next one be a powerful hit." Lucy said aloud as she looked at the duo, groaning more from seeing Kikuko lower her mask to give her a taunting smirk.

Kikuko told her in a teasing manner, before licking some of the purple flames, "If your flames are just at this level, then you're no better than any cocky dark mage who wants to win on explosions alone. In fact, dark magic can actually be pretty scary."

Kenji added as he picked up some poison in his left hand while flicking a bit of it at Lucy, "Well, this next spell will sadly knock it out of your hands."

When the small amount of poison hit Lucy, an amethyst purple aura surrounded her body while she began to cough three times. She watched the purple crescent blade of Crescent's Night form in her left hand, and Lucy was forced to throw it. She could only watch some flames from Dark Reisu latch on to the spell while it spun making it be a flaming blade, but Kikuko merely got in front of Kenji to eat the attack. She swallowed it while feeling four explosions of Darkness Magic occur within her stomach, but the Poison Magic inside her body allowed any dangers to be nullified.

The spell Kenji used was Venom Shock, and it required him to hit his enemy with poison. Even the smallest hit would count, and it forced the opponent to use their next spell whether they wanted to or not. Kira unleashed her Cherished Flame spell at the powerful duo, only to see them dodge it for the fire to set a poisonous tree ablaze, and Kikuko narrowed her violet eyes as she felt like it was time for her to show the girls how Darkness Magic could be quite menacing. In fact, her first move would probably frighten anybody.

Kikuko used a spell known as Dark Candle, and she suddenly melted down into violet goop as her eyes began to lose their pupils. She moved through the poison at rapid speeds while nearly being invisible, and Kira soon looked startled at the sight of some goop appearing on Lucy's left shoulder. It seeped down into her pores while Lucy looked horrified, and some goop even fell down from the ceiling to be on Lucy's left cheek. She accidentally put it on her right shoulder while wondering where Kikuko went, but the coldness from earlier returned.

Lucy felt something large rise up from her right shoulder, and she couldn't even breathe as she saw Kikuko's head rise up from the goop. She turned her entire body into goop for this next spell, and she laughed evilly as flames came from her mouth. She shot out some flames to burn Lucy's body while making some goop get out of Lucy's pores to spread out on her chest, and Lucy looked shocked to see Kikuko's hands emerge from the front of her dress without ripping it. She grabbed the left arm and crunched down hard on its wrist to sever it from the body, but Lucy merely trembled as she saw that limb fall and become purple flames as her foe regained her limb.

"Surprised to see that, little girl? Don't you know that ghosts don't die? Should I should detach that head of yours from the body, or help Kenji beat you to where only the bones are left behind?" Kikuko whispered in Lucy's right ear, before sadistically giggling.

Lucy asked as she trembled, trying to hit Kikuko and seeing that her fist went straight through her, "You melted yourself down to where you're a ghost?!"

Kikuko replied as she grinned viciously, "I'm currently like a ghost, but even the vengeful spirits can do this!"

Before Lucy could say another word, Kikuko's arms went back into her body. They came out from Lucy' wrists and slashed them with Kikuko's purple fingernails, and Lucy screamed in pain as she fell forward. The slashes appeared as purple shadows on her wrists before the cuts were actually made, and that spell was known as Dark Slash. Kikuko could use it in her normal form, but she thought that this way of using it would be more self-entertaining. Having to deal with this on top of being burned was tough for Lucy, and Kira saw it like a hostage situation.

If she tried to help Lucy, then Kikuko would most likely break her neck or hit her in tender areas as punishment. Kira looked straight at Kenji, who wondered if they could fight, but Kira could guess that he'd block her attacks before striking her with powerful spells. Her spells would not be able to hit her opponent, and that made Kira groan. However, her hazel eyes began to widen at that very thought. She wouldn't be able to hit her foe, so couldn't she just strike something else with the flames? In fact, didn't flames like poison gas?

Kira made fire engulf fher right fist while she proceeded to punch the ground, making an explosion of purple flames occur, and all of Kikuko's goop proceeded to leave Lucy's body while she became drawn to the flames. The fire around Lucy ceased while her skin was charred and she was bleeding, her dress torn in certain places, and her purple book began to pulsate while she stepped into a large puddle of poison. Lucy's brown eyes were pupil-less as she felt so exhausted, but some poison falling from the ceiling to enter her mouth would tell her to just enjoy the toxicity.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, on the sixth floor...**

Sting and Rogue were now walking around on the sixth floor of Samantha's fashion company, seeing that some rooms had dresses and other accessories that were recently released to the public, and the dragon slayers went straight up the hallway with their Exceeds. The violet walls went well with the tiled floor that was lavender, and Sting soon made a left turn to see that the bodies of three security guards were on the floor. They were all covered in purple flames, burning away while it seemed that someone hurt them for the sole purpose of killing time, and Sting hoped that a dark mage was not sneaking around in the halls.

He could see the stairs be past the rooms while one of the rooms on his left side featured a purple pair of doors, and the light dragon slayer looked across from that room to see a pink pair of doors. Those would probably be the last doors for Lucy to go through, since she had to battle the Elite Seven, and Sting would just wait for her current battle to end. He wondered if that poisonous smell was connected to Kenji, since he wielded Poison Magic, and Sting was not able to fight while holding his breath at the same time.

Rogue told Sting in a calm manner while sniffing the air, "Not only is the room for battling giving off a pungent odor, Sting, but it smells like someone was busy in that room near the stairs."

Sting responded as he looked confident and turned to face Rogue, "Well, let's go check it out. We're on a nice tour of Samantha's fashion company, so we have a right to see everything. It's not like we even have cameras to take pictures, so she won't yell at us."

He ran back towards the stairs that led down to the fifth floor, quickly reaching the purple door that was still slightly open, and Sting fully opened it while not minding its loud creak. Rogue and the Exceeds ran up to him as they all wondered what they would find in this room, but Sting managed to turn on a nearby light switch with his right hand to see that this was the storage room. It merely contained grey boxes of Samantha's old designs and clothes that she didn't want to produce anymore, and Sting walked in here with his friends as he looked puzzled.

This was certainly a storage room, but Sting thought it would be more stylish than ordinary. He walked into the center of the room as he looked at some hats that were on the boxes, wondering if Lucy would like to wear any of them, but Sting would probably be told by Rogue that an unpopular hat was not exactly a great gift. His left foot shifted to an adjacent tile, before finding it oddly easy to press down, and Sting soon saw some tiles near the wall rise up to different levels as they oddly formed a staircase. That was done with Darkness Magic, and it certainly was capable of creating weird tricks like this.

Rogue and Sting walked towards the stairs while Lector flew up to the second floor with Frosch, and the dragon slayers quickly ascended upward. They got to see that only one purple door was on this floor of the storage room, but Sting narrowed his eyes. To him, it seemed really weird that a hidden staircase was needed in this company. The second floor merely had more boxes while some of them even contained fan mail that Samantha's biggest fans sent to her, and Sting peeked in one of the boxes as he wondered how someone could abandon fan mail that talked about their greatness. If he was in Samantha's position, he would've publicly read the letters with Lacrima Vision screens in every part of Fiore to show off his coolness.

He turned to face the purple door that had no lock on it while wondering if it would be where Samantha kept her overabundance of profits from selling her expensive clothing. Sting took notice of a black camera being above the door in the right-hand corner of the wall, and he merely gave it a thumbs-up while silently promising to not take anything. Sting pushed open the door with his left hand to immediately be met with something that smelled quite foul, and he could hear some flies buzzing as the room was lit with a purple glow.

After climbing over some boxes and knocking over two stacks of them that were in his way, Sting exclaimed with a shocked look on his face as he didn't expect this sight, "Rogue, what the hell is this?!"

The shadow dragon slayer asked his friend while looking concerned, "What is it, Sting? What's wrong?"

Lector told Sting as he watched the boxes be set ablaze, "Whatever it is, we better get out of here quickly and quietly."

The boxes were pushed into a purple fire that was surrounding the bodies of three models, burning them while they smelled like they hadn't bathed for several days, and two teenage models were even chained to the walls as they looked quite starved. Samantha would actually leave aspiring models in this room if they were persistent enough to not get out of her company after more than one warning about intruding, and she claimed that this was her initiation room. She claimed that she'd come for them after six days of isolation and making decisions, but she merely left them there like worthless products that her fashion company didn't need.

Sting wasted no time with using his White Dragon's Roar to break the black shackles that bound the two brown-haired models to the purple wall, seeing their faces show paleness and hunger as they fell to the ground, and he wondered how the fashion industry could have aspiring models go through such abuse. The price for fame was certainly not cheap, but it wasn't as glamorous as people made it seem to be. He sternly told Lector to pick up both of the thin models and get them to a restaurant, even pulling out five-thousand jewels from the left pocket of his blue vest, and Sting nicely folded the bills for Lector to gently hold them in his mouth.

The red Exceed flew over to the girls and picked them up by the straps of their brown dresses, easily being able to lift them, and the money was in his mouth while he flew down to the first floor of the storage room. Sting could only look at the burning models and assume that someone with Darkness Magic used those purple flames, but he did remember the models who accompanied Samantha to Shioru Town. Judging by how they also acted as her bodyguards, they helped the famous fashion designer fully burn away any pests that would be problematic.

As Sting talked aloud bout informing Lucy of his discovery, Rogue merely narrowed his red eyes as he thought back to the folder he found on the first floor. Just like these women, that folder was hidden away. Samantha was using the models and the Rainbow Crystals for personal gain while hiding the evidence in an attempt to not get caught, and that was pretty dark. Rogue still wondered what she needed the Rainbow Crystals for, since they merely seemed like her seven tools that were all part of a plan that was much larger.

* * *

 **Elsewhere, in the office...**

Thirty minutes went by while that guard had failed to respond, making Samantha groan in a frustrated manner as she wondered about what was happening on the sixth floor, and Samantha merely looked down at her black desk while ignoring the fact that the scenery in the Lacrima Vision Screen had changed. Someone obviously picked it up after taking out the guard with a surprise attack, but the sneaky person chose to not keep the orb with them. They had no use for it, and simply put it in the room where they gave the guard quite a scare.

Samantha placed her hands on the desk as she thought that it would be easy to just wait for the intruder to be caught, as they probably made enough of a ruckus to make someone be concerned, and she wondered if that person had the nerve to be a member of the Elite Seven. Not only would beating up on of her guards be a clear act of treason against the company, but Samantha frowned harshly at the thought of letting in a rat who was going to steal from the storage room. Even if they took the mail sent by fans, it would be disastrous for Samantha's image.

How in the world would she be able to refute the claims of fan mail being placed in the storage room like it was unimportant? That would certainly make her fans and buyers of her fashionable outfits feel like she cared very little for how they looked up to her, and Samantha could not allow that to happen. She needed to keep up her facade of adoring her fans and loving their devotion, even though the weekly stacks of jewels placed on her desk would weigh much more to her, and Samantha wondered if she was wrong to host this challenge for Lucy.

If she had not chosen to have this challenge involving the Elite Seven, then business could've continued as always without anyone lurking around or being in places that did not concern them. As Samantha opened up her left desk drawer and took a glance at a colorful piece of paper that involved different types of magic and some instructions, she suddenly heard her Lacrima crystal ring loudly. She turned it on while wondering what took the guard so long to answer, but she soon heard the sounds of someone stepping down some stairs and proceeding to walk around.

"Man, what's going on in this fashion company? I expected to see that from a dark guild, not in an upstairs storage room." Sting asked aloud with a shocked look on his face, before calmly speaking with disappointment in his voice about Samantha.

Rogue replied nicely as he let his right foot touch the lavender tile that Sting initially stepped on, "Well, all guilds and companies have their dark secrets that they don't want to be in the public light. Still, Samantha even has a folder of scientific research on the crystals. In fact, I can honestly understand why Minerva detests her so much."

At that moment, Samantha could only let her jaw drop as her expression became one that showed utter panic. Sting and Rogue went up to the second floor and discovered how she abused those aspiring models, so they obviously would not look at her in a positive light anymore. If Minerva came along with the group, she would either be disgusted by Samantha's horrible actions or simply start to laugh at how she was correct to not join in on the hype for the blonde-haired fashion designer. Either way, Samantha was still in trouble.

She could only get up from her chair silently while proceeding to walk out of the room, not wanting to be confronted by the dragon slayers if they ended up getting into her office, and Samantha could easily assume that Sting would tell Lucy about what he had seen. That made the plan of Lucy working at the company possibly be blown up in smoke, and she'd definitely have to alter her plan. Lucy was someone who seemed to have a nice friendship with her, but Samantha's eyes widened as she began to have a nice little theory.

The woman who wore her signature black hair clips actually thought Lucy decided to battle the Elite Seven while her friends would run around the company on their unauthorized tour without an escort, and she clenched her fists as her grey eyes became narrowed. Lucy had that habit of making someone's spells or magic work against them, but now she presumably had the sheer audacity to make the setup of Samantha's challenge work against her? That was utterly humiliating for a supposedly smart celebrity, and she would look like a true fool.

Samantha wondered if the mages from Sabertooth misinterpreted her news about the company's party as an invitation to gain more fame for themselves, as this challenge and their presence at the company could make her be below them in terms of popularity, and she would definitely get payback for their decision to sneak around her company and mess with her plans. The fact that the dragon slayers were on the sixth floor meant that five auras were now around the black crystal, and Samantha just needed to wait for the last two to be around it.

 _"There are only two auras left. I have no reason to freak out, and Lucy will not have all the fame! She's not going to be my successor! I started this great challenge, and I'll deal with her accordingly."_ Samantha thought to herself with a scheming grin as she began to giggle, wanting to keep her popularity while the thought of losing it caused her to giggle with a tone of insanity.

She walked out into the hallway while quickly looking toward the black pair of doors that led to the rooftop, and Samantha ran up the hall while ignoring the sight of a pink-haired girl who wore a pink jacket that had four yellow buttons on it. This certain girl was not someone who Samantha hired to work on the seventh floor today, but she did come for a nice little role. She and Samantha could both hear some attacks explode on the floor below them, and the fashion designer seemed annoyed while the girl with pink hair merely smirked at the level of magical power involving those spells.

As Samantha ran out to the rooftop, the girl who had her hair styled in two pigtails that reached the middle of her back felt like closing her eyes for a moment. She focused some magical power into her eyes while sensing that they became cherry pink, and this user of Heavenly Body Magic touched the ground with her left hand to see who was on the lower floor. Upon quickly catching sight of Lucy, the girl merely giggled and maintained her smirk. As she stood up, however, this girl felt like going towards the pink pair of doors where someone was already waiting with anticipation.

* * *

 **In the purple room...**

Kira dodged some purple flames that Kikuko fired at her, watching them create purple explosions that were quite hot, and the red-haired merchant looked over at Lucy to see the pupils return to her eyes while her mouth was wide open. Kira watched Lucy surprisingly inhale the poison gas in the room, seeing her suck up a large amount of it, and the blonde-haired girl actually found the poison to be delicious. Well, she would only think it was appetizing while she wielded the purple book that allowed her to consume it without taking damage.

Lucy looked straight at Kenji, who merely gave her a confident grin while hoping she'd show off some serious skills, and an amethyst purple aura engulfed Lucy's body. She fired the Dark Reisu spell again before firing its evolved spell afterwards, and Lucy allowed her book to become amethyst purple while she jumped into the air. She watched Kenji block her first attack with a cloud of poison gas again, only to see it create an explosion of purple flames, but she soon smiled softly at the move called Poison Yuudoku. It went into the explosion while letting the flames engulf it, and this would be a wicked attack.

The ball of poison struck Kenji in the chest while it proceeded to explode, creating six amethyst purple explosions of fire that surrounded him, and that spell of toxicity became much stronger with flames added to it. Lucy watched the smoke clear up to reveal that Kenji only took minor damage, since poison was his specialty, but she would not give up. In fact, her next evolved spell made her feel quite glad that Kenji covered the floor with his foul-smelling poison. Lucy went down to the floor, and she didn't mind stepping in the purple gunk.

She activated a new move called Venomous Flame, and this spell caused a large amethyst purple flame to appear in front of her. Lucy punched the flame upward, causing it to break apart into several smaller flames, and they rapidly descended to the ground. They gained power and speed on their descent while the poison dripping on to them only powered them up, and Lucy directed all the flames to come crashing down on Kenji. She even picked up the purple goop with her left hand to throw it at the flames, and that really surprised Kenji.

"She's applying poison to the flames! Wow, Lucy definitely studied some of my brother's techniques." Kenji said aloud while the flames quickly got close to him, not seeing any blind spots in the spell.

Kikuno told Kenji in a concerned manner as she saw him stand there, "Get out there, Kenji, and move quickly!"

The flames struck him rapidly in a fiery barrage, though, and Kenji screamed in pain as he felt the immense heat of the flames surround him. He watched the flames explode while taking damage from the attacks, but they weren't strong enough to make him fall. The poison increased the density of Lucy's flames, and Kenji could only give her a grin of respect while he wondered what she would do next. Dark magic was certainly one of the most unpredictable types of magic, and he awaited Lucy's next move as he hoped it would be awesome.

Lucy unleashed a new spell called Toxic Poison Waste, and the spell required her to look straight up at the ceiling. An amethyst purple orb formed inside her mouth, and Lucy fired it up at the ceiling. She watched the orb explode and make several smaller orbs come down to the ground at high speeds while they all left behind purple trails of smoke, but the orbs ended up sinking into the poison while they didn't even explode. Kira looked puzzled and thought that Lucy accidentally used the wrong move, but she stayed by the doors to avoid the poison.

Kenji picked up some of the gunk to let it sink into his hands, causing their Poison Magic to amplify, and he shot out two large blobs of poison from his palms. They struck Lucy's feet while being sticky like glue, preventing her from moving, and the goop soon solidified. Kikuko spoke for Kenji as she giggled, and the ninja girl kindly informed Lucy that poisons had different properties. They could not only be explosive, but poisonous moves that immobilized a foe could be quite deadly. Struggling to move wouldn't help her at all, either.

Kira shot out some flames from her mouth, attempting to burn the goop off, but the heat merely caused the poison to start bubbling. Lucy screamed from the scalding pain while thinking that she and Kira really need a hand with this situation, and that prompted her to use the spell called Ruinous Hex. Ten ghostly hands rose up from the ground, but they soon became amethyst purple while three orbs of poison rose up from the muck to circle around each hand. Everyone was surprised to see a spell of Darkness Magic get converted to Poison Magic right before their eyes, and Ruinous Hex was changing into Violet Grime Scythes.

"Well, that's something you don't see every day." Kikuko stated aloud before shooting out purple flames from her left hand.

Lucy responded while looking quite confident, "That spell was one of my favorites, so let's see what it does now!"

The fingernails of the hands changed from being feminine to looking like large sickle blades, and they charged at Kenji while Kikuko's flames were repelled away from them. She gasped in shock from seeing the flames be sent back to the side of the field where she stood with Kira, and the female spirits cackled evilly as they claimed that their hands could easily brush aside vengeful flames that were part of the underworld. To the spirits who wielded those dead hands, poison was merely a delicious treat for them down in hell.

The hands slammed into Kenji while ten amethyst purple blasts of energy transpired, and the orbs around the hands were simply tripling their power to give them some serious ferocity. As the blasts occurred, Kenji screamed from how the hands viciously made slash marks occur on his body. Two of the hands even left brutal cuts on both sides of his face, and the painful slashes made him fall to his knees. He placed his right hand on the ground to make a twister of purple muck rise up from it, and Kenji watched Kikuko throw some of the purple flames at it.

Lucy was confused about why she was trying to attack the twister, only to see the flames come flying towards her, and she was caught in six fiery explosions! Lucy sweated profusely while watching Kikuko fire a vortex of purple flames at the twister, seeing it quickly spin around multiple times to end up flying towards Kira, and that poisonous combo was known as the Nightmarish Toxic Shield. Any attack that hit the twister could just spin around multiple times to increase its power and speed, and the attack would be sent flying towards the opponent.

Kira was struck by Kikuko's vortex, and she was caught in a purple blast of Darkness Magic! The flames were as hot as her own fire, but Kira felt like it would be insulting for her to lose against Kikuko's flames. She surprisingly put her left hand in the poison gunk and consumed some of it, causing her to get poisoned, but Kira used her large cough as a good opening for her to shoot out a large fireball. The red ball of fire was surrounded by toxic clouds of poison gas, and Kikuko found herself sliding back several feet to dodge the fiery blast that it created.

"It certainly takes a little trick to give some flames the extra power that they need." Kira stated with a smile on her face, before coughing twice.

Kikuko thought to herself as she felt the room start to get incredibly warm, _"That's no little trick. She's definitely thinking ahead, especially if she's crazy enough to hurt herself by eating poison."_

The fiery blast distracted Kenji long enough for Lucy to pick up some of his purple goop and eat it, stuffing lots of it into her mouth, and she quickly swallowed it while eating some more. This would help her next spell have a nice boost like Kira's did, and it was called Poisonous Sludge Beam. Lucy simply fired a purple beam of sludge from her mouth, liking how it was as big as the White Dragon's Roar attack that Sting used, but Kenji was swift enough to turn his attention back to her leap several feet backwards. He picked up some poison to enhance his magic, and the leader of Mumargi Town readied his fists.

He struck Lucy's attack in its center, causing the sludge to merely go past him, and Kenji began taking steps forward as he picked up more poison with his right hand. He ate that poison to enhance his punch, watching it start to act like a solid wall that Lucy's beam would not break through, but Kenji saw Kira create two large balls of purple gunk. She smiled while watching them bubble like they were boiling hot, and Kenji was amazed to see her throw them at Lucy's attack. That actually caused the beam of sludge to double in power while its size increased, and Kenji was soon overwhelmed by the attack!

It sent him crashing back against the purple wall while an amethyst purple blast occurred, and purple clouds of smoke filled the battlefield. Lucy breathed out a sigh of relief, only to see some purple needles of Poison Magic be sent her way, and Kenji was clever to use her large attack's smoke as a way to hide his next move. Lucy still could not move because of the hardened goop that surrounded her legs, but she would see what her next spell would do. The previous spell was not an evolved form of Shadow Claw, but these new spells were certainly strong.

Lucy used the move known as Poison Puppet, and it oddly made some goop in front of Kenji start to bubble. Everyone looked startled to see the gunk take the shape of Lucy while the poison gas went into the gunk for it to fully develop into an exact replica of her, but this duplicate had no book to hold. Its hair was purple while purple gunk bubbled in its mouth, and the puppet's gulps went up its throat like it was trying to create a large belch. Kenji soon watched it cover its mouth while mumbling about the nasty gunk in Lucy's voice, having its hands over its mouth like it felt sick, and Kenji used his right hand to redirect all his needles as he gave Lucy a very serious look.

"Lucy, I honestly find this move of yours to be an insulting joke to dark magic." He told her in a stern manner, wanting to see her be as serious as some of the dark mages.

She replied with a confident smile on her face, watching the puppet's body turn purple, "Well, it's not very funny to see the puppet turn purple. If I were you, I'd be somewhat worried."

Kikuko exclaimed as she saw the needles stab the puppet in its back, watching them slowly fall right through the other side of its mucky body, "Kenji, that thing is immune to your magic!"

The puppet soon burst into a large amount of sludge, getting all the poison on Kenji, and Lucy watched her foe suddenly freeze in place as his body went numb. Kenji could not move a muscle, as the liquid from the puppet was for immobilization purposes, and he could only glare at Lucy while she saw this as some nice payback for making her unable to move her feet. This didn't stop Kikuko from shooting out a large ball of poison from her left hand, and it created an orchid purple blast upon hitting Kenji! He was sent rolling across the gunk before he managed to get up, and her sphere of poison was an explosive attack with the side effect of reversing a poison's effects. It was normally used to make weaker poisons have their effects flipped to where they were stronger, but it also got rid of immobilization.

Kenji and Lucy panted heavily as they decided to unleash their last spells, and Kenji made a ball of poison form in his right hand. He liked how it was the size of his palm, but this move was gaining more power by how large amounts of purple gunk fell from the ceiling to enter the sphere. He focused the magical power to a high level while even exhaling poison gas on to it, and Kenji aggressively threw the attack at Lucy! Kikuko also fired her orchid sphere again for this to be their final combination, and Lucy would probably become too weak to even endure Kenji's move.

Kira was quite surprised about the situation, but then she ran over to some of her own red flames and threw them at Kikuko's sphere! The explosions did not damage it at all, but Kira actually ran around and aimed her fiery attacks to where they pushed the ball in the direction of Kenji's attack. Every explosion sent it flying forward with faster speed while it was knocked off-course, and Kenji could only watch his partner's move touch his attack. An orchid purple aura engulfed his attack just as it was about to hit Lucy's stomach, and all that she ended up feeling was a tiny purple explosion that sizzled above her bellybutton.

She now chose to retaliate with her final move that was known as Toxic Sludge Bombs, and it caused six orbs of poison to rise up from the muck while it began rising upward for them to gain more power. Kenji and Kikuko were surprised to see Lucy's poisonous move involve a spell that seemed to do nothing by itself, but those orbs were charging up Poison Magic while sludge even came down from the ceiling to give them more energy. They soon floated around Kenji in a hexagonal formation while he began to tremble, but he soon sighed as his eyes shifted to Lucy.

 _"If Kikuko's move didn't get in the way, I would've probably won this fight. Oh, well. This was a fun game, Lucy. For you and Kira to fight us with tricks in your moves, you're certainly smart like dark mages."_ Kenji thought to himself as the projectiles propelled themselves towards him, glad that the battle was thrilling.

Lucy's sludge bombs struck Kenji to create six amethyst purple blasts that layered over each other, definitely showing their power, and the three girls covered their eyes while hearing purple goop start to splatter everywhere. Those poisonous blasts were quite dense, making Kenji be bruised and bloodied while he was in excruciating pain, and Kenji's purple T-shirt was nearly ripped up while his lavender pants and purple sneakers were torn. Purple smoke filled the room while everyone heard Kenji groan, and the sound of him falling into the gunk was enough to make Kikuko widen her purple eyes in shock.

She jumped up into the air while using her Darkness Magic to alter gravity, and Kikuko focused it on the poisonous flowers that were in this room. Six of them levitated up into the air for them to be in her hands, and the purple-haired girl spun around while unleashing purple flames of Darkness Magic. She concealed herself in a twister of purple flames while the flowers spun around with her, and the intense heat strengthened their scent. It went straight into the noses of Kira and Lucy, making them smell something very sweet, but they soon felt exhausted like their magic was being drained.

Kira and Lucy both fell to the ground while they watched the tree that Kira burned earlier explode into red flames, and the waves of Kikuko's Darkness Magic converted them into purple flames. Kikuko soon walked out of the twister as she evilly grinned at the girls, really wanting to finish them off, and she even struck Lucy with a purple orb of Darkness Magic that created slash marks on Lucy's body when it exploded! That was Kikuko's way of getting some revenge for Kenji, as well as maintaining her image of being a dark mage who fought dirty, and she just wanted to toy with her foes.

She watched Kira attempt to stand up, only to send the twister of flames in her direction to make a massive explosion of purple fire surround her, and Kikuko felt like finishing off the girls. As she smirked evilly at Lucy, however, the fact that she won against Kenji with Poison Magic was enough to make Kikuko's eyes widen with amazement. Not only did Lucy's Darkness Magic beat the previous leader of Mumargi Town, but she showed off great skills of Poison Magic in front of Tsukiari Town's leader. On top of that, Lucy certainly had the vicious flames of a dark mage.

"No.. I don't want to lose.." Lucy stated as she struggled to get up, still panting heavily.

Kikuko responded nicely while squatting down in front of Lucy, grinning with the sense of being impressed, "I declare this match to be a draw. I can still fight, Lucy, but you defeated the person who was taught those poisonous spells by me. Also, the way you made your Darkness Magic work with Poison Magic puts you in a fierce group of dark mages. Since your magic makes you just as dark as us, I can gladly say you're a winner."

Kikuko continued on while preparing to heal her friends, almost forgetting something, "Also, this company has a rather dark undertone to it. I'd hate to see a wizard like you or Kira end up like the other girls who were in the storage room."

Kikuko shot out a purple sphere of Darkness Magic from her left hand, and she made it strike Lucy. She did the same thing to Kira, and the Darkness Magic made purple healing auras surround their bodies. Kikuko healed them weakly, though, and she used the orchid purple sphere from earlier to make her weak healing move become far stronger. She watched Lucy and Kira get up while the purple doors opened, their magic fully restored, and the girls from Sabertooth were hasty with running into hallway. The purple aura appeared in the center of the room for Kikuko to warp back to Mumargi Town with Kenji, and she ended the conversation with Lucy by calmly telling her to beat that final member of the Elite Seven for all of the dark mages who were one crystal away from winning the ancient challenge.

As Kikuko picked up Kenji and went into the aura with him, Lucy and Kira were glad to finally be in the hallway. The doors closed behind them while they were glad to get through that battle, and the purple auras faded away from their bodies. Sting and Rogue came out of a nearby room with some bags of chips in their hands, pretty glad that they managed to get some food, but they were more happy about seeing their girlfriends. Sting hugged Lucy as he felt proud of her for getting so far in Samantha's challenge, glad that only one person was left, but he also thought about what he saw in the storage room.

Sting felt like he needed to tell Lucy about how Samantha was not exactly a fashion designer who had good intentions, as she was more like a corrupt woman who treated models like tools that could be disposed of when they were no longer needed, but he also thought about Samantha herself telling Lucy about her true nature. That would probably be better, since she did catch Sting and Rogue on camera, and Lucy would probably love to hear the shocking news from the woman who held the entire key to the mystery of why the Rainbow Crystals were such an important part of her company.

Lucy nicely ended the hug while she asked Sting about where Lector flew off to, but the pink pair of doors that were closed for the longest amount of time in the Rainbow Mastery challenge proceeded to slowly open before Sting could give Lucy a response. Kira and Frosch joined Sting and Rogue with simply looking at that last set of white stairs Lucy would need to ascend, being pretty curious about who was up there, and Lucy herself simply narrowed her eyes as she walked up to the doorway to her last battle.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 46? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Just to clarify, Kikuko does have a moral compass like Kyouji. She will show respect to someone who triumphs over her Poison Magic, even if they defeat the person she taught it to. Even if you thought that battle wasn't full of action, stick around for the last member of the Elite Seven! I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story!**


	47. Chapter 47

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **Rocking The Heavens! Lucy vs. Minami!**

* * *

Lucy walked up the stairs and went through the doorway to see that this last room was somewhat larger than the others, having a tiled floor in a regular shade of pink while the walls were bubblegum pink, and several pink stars that were metallic floated around in a circle while pink orbs of heavenly energy were in each corner of the tiled floor. Lucy set the purple book down on the floor, and she took out the pearl pink case from the right pocket of her violet dress. She opened it up to drop the Starry Crystal on the book, making it change from amethyst purple to now be pink, and Lucy picked up the crystal.

As she put it back in the case and closed it quickly, she suddenly heard the loud riff of an electric guitar blast through the room while its melody sounded pretty awesome. The guitar riff was accompanied by a certain pink-haired girl tapping her left foot to the music as she played the instrument, and her eyes were closed as she confidently smiled about her awesome skills on the guitar. Lucy saw this girl's pink leather boots that went well with her black leather jacket and pink hair, but seeing her as a member of the Elite Seven was quite a surprise.

Lucy picked up the pink spell book while seeing the pink pair of doors behind this girl open up to let Chisato in, making the blonde-haired girl widen her eyes in utter shock at how two users of Heavenly Body Magic were now in this room, and the pink-haired art thief merely smirked at Lucy as she walked towards her in a cocky manner. She felt pretty glad that they crossed paths again, thinking that this would be a great time for them to have a much fiercer battle than they had at the museum in the town of Hoshizora, and Chisato seemed happy at how Lucy looked eager to fight.

The two girls stared at each other for a moment, Lucy looking like she wouldn't hesitate to unleash her first spell on Chisato, but the mage from the Sabertooth guild was quite surprised to see Chisato shake her head in a refusing manner before turning around to walk away. She focused Heavenly Body Magic into her eyes, however, and they soon became pink. Chisato bent her right arm backwards while her palm was aimed directly at Lucy, and the pink-haired guitarist stopped playing her music while Chisato read Lucy's current thoughts.

"You are ready to battle, Lucy. I'm not your opponent, though. In fact, you already saw who Samantha picked for the Elite Seven. Just like you, she's been training hard." Chisato told Lucy while taking the pink electric guitar out of the other girl's hands.

Minami informed Lucy as she opened her eyes and smiled while Chisato walked out of the room, "She merely came here with me and my band members today, but she did help me master some new spells when we crossed paths in Hyakkoku Town. Anyway, Lucy, it's great to see you rock out all the way up here. I'm looking forward to our fight, you know. Samantha wanted me to wait all the way up here for her challenge, and she said I'm the toughest member of the Elite Seven. I'll go all-out against you to live up to that expectation."

Lucy replied with a confident smile on her face, glad they could have a proper fight, "All right, Minami! Bring it on!"

Lucy started off the fight with the spell known as Astral Star, and it caused a pink star-shaped projectile to be fired from her left hand. Minami merely applied Heavenly Body Magic to her feet and dodged the attack, however, but she was not smiling. Lucy fired two more of her projectiles at the spot where the first one landed, causing a pink aura to engulf her left hand while the attacks merged their power together to create a pink blast that was quite large, and pink clouds of smoke covered that part of the battlefield for a moment.

She was suddenly punched in the stomach by Minami, however, and the hands of the guitarist were infused with Heavenly Body Magic. Her punch sent Lucy flying upward for at least ten seconds, before lowering her fist to make Lucy hit the ground with a hard thud, and that was a psychic spell. Minami watched Lucy start to get up while she winced in pain, not expecting that surprise attack to be followed by a fast ascent and a fast descent that would result in some harsh pain to her abdomen, and Minami merely used the light from Lucy's blast to her advantage.

Lucy activated the second spell of Heavenly Body Magic, and it was known as Heavenly Cannon Shot. It caused Lucy to shoot out a pink beam of energy from her mouth, and the beam curved behind her to possibly hit one of the orbs. Minami used her speed to now be several feet away from Lucy, watching her attack seem like a misfire, but she soon ran towards Lucy at high speeds while getting ready to punch her. She managed to get close to Lucy rather quickly, only to see the beam change direction to now be heading forward, and Lucy hastily jumped backwards while the attack struck Minami!

The final member of the Elite Seven was sent flying back against the wall while the attack's waves made Lucy's speed increase for a certain amount of time, and Minami slid down the wall while Lucy began running towards her. Minami could only fold her arms and smile while she watched Lucy plan to attack her directly, not being distant for any long-range moves, but the guitarist merely thought of a nice way to rock the rhythm of this battle as Lucy was soon face to face with her. What move was Minami going to use?

"Prepare for another harsh hit, Minami!" Lucy confidently told her as she pulled her left arm backward, getting ready to deliver a fierce punch.

Minami responded nicely as she made a pink aura surround her body, "Actually, Lucy, you should prepare to get hit!"

Lucy asked her in a shocked manner, "What?"

Minami fired a pink ball of heavenly energy at the center of the floor, watching it start to float in midair while becoming bubblegum pink, and Lucy was soon pulled towards the sphere. Minami stretched out her left hand while closing her eyes, sending more psychic energy into the ball for the purpose of boosting its power, and Lucy was slammed against the attack! It detonated in a pink blast that was quite powerful, sending Lucy up very high while she winced in pain from the harsh attack, and Minami seemed pretty glad that her psychic abilities were confounding Lucy.

Lucy activated the move called Starry Speed, and it caused a pink aura to appear below her. It soon took the shape of seven stars, and Lucy ended up making contact with all of them as she fell. Lucy now fell seven times faster, only to gently make her left hand touch the ground to cushion the impact, and she soon got back on her feet. Lucy decided to zoom around the room while thinking that would confuse Minami, as she couldn't possibly predict Lucy's curved running patterns that weren't for any attacks, but would that work?

Minami's eyes remained closed as she put her hands together, focusing her Heavenly Body Magic on the battlefield, and her heavenly energy created seven large pink stars! This looked similar to Chisato's barrier, but one of the stars actually managed to strike the area in front of Lucy! It created a large pink blast that had enough force to make Lucy be sent flying backwards while her speed disappeared, and she ended up dropping her pink book. She could only watch the six other stars of the Psi Wall strike the wall, making pink blasts surround it, but would that be such a bad thing?

Lucy quickly ran over to her book as she saw the blasts fade away, and it was not damaged. She picked it up while seeing it begin to pulsate in a rose pink color, and Lucy smiled as she knew the formula by now. When enough energy from a certain type of magic made contact with the spell book, that type of magic would evolve to where the spells were on a new level. Since this was the final type of magic that Lucy gained in her quest for the Rainbow Crystals, this would be the last time she'd get to see how her spells evolved. Lucy wasn't disappointed, though. After all, she'd be glad to rock out with her spells while forcing Minami to follow the notes that would explosively be played in this epic battle.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, on the seventh floor...**

Kira went up the stairs with Sting and Rogue to the highest floor, seeing that some of the rooms were displaying beautiful dresses while there was even a whole room for the hats that were in different colors, and the protagonists walked down the hall to see that the door to Samantha's office was open. They noticed that no one was inside the room that had black walls and black carpeting, meaning that Samantha went somewhere, and Sting sighed in an annoyed manner. Just when he thought it would be possible to confront her in her office, she was nowhere to be found.

Sting's eyes caught sight of the black pair of the doors that were close to Samantha's office while being directly across from the pink pair of doors that were closed, but Samantha used her dark magic to lock the doors. They would only open when Lucy was finished with her battle against Minami, so no one could get to see the fashion designer right now. Sting thought that it was a waste of time to just look in the rooms on this floor, but Kira walked into the office while thinking that they could use this time to look around.

She looked quite calm while walking up to Samantha's desk, seeing the onyx black case that was on it, and Kira also took notice of some dying plants in the room. The blonde-haired fashion designer kept them away from the light while the blinds to her windows were closed, not wanting any people from rival companies to take pictures of her office, but Kira wondered how Samantha couldn't care for the plants that were part of her design for the office. There were also several pictures of Samantha on the walls, too, but Kira hoped to really find something of importance.

Sting and Rogue went into the room with Frosch while wanting to help Kira find any sort of clue that would help them truly prove that Samantha was a dangerous criminal, and Sting soon saw Kira sit down in the black chair as she comically pretended to be the president of the company for a moment. Sting sighed as he calmly asked her if this was really the time to be messing around, since Samantha could return to her office at any moment, and Kira put her legs up on the desk while she decided to give Rogue a flirty look. Even batting her eyelashes at him was enough to make him blush a light shade of pink.

"Rogue! Get me a pumpkin spice coffee drink from the best doughnut shop in Nurie Town, and make sure it's hot with extra cream added!" Kira told her boyfriend in a demanding tone, before playfully giggling.

The shadow dragon slayer responded with a calm smile on his face, "Sure, Madam President! I'll get you some pumpkin spice doughnuts, too."

Kira told Rogue as she made her feet be off the desk, smiling as she opened the left desk drawer, "Also, let me get a pen to write your paycheck for 1,000,000 jewels."

As she opened the desk drawer, however, Kira's eyes noticed a colorful piece of paper that was in all seven colors of the rainbow. She picked it up to examine the document, seeing that it featured all seven Rainbow Crystals in a heptagonal formation while a much larger crystal was in the center of the formation, and Kira got to see the word "aura" be above each crystal while it seemed like the seven auras would affect the black crystal. Samantha's seven Rainbow Crystals were not in their black case, and Kira now understood why she had them on the ground floor while the auras could float upward.

The crystals were part of a ritual that involved the black crystal, which was labeled as the Shadow Crystal by Samantha, and Kira got up from the chair to share this crucial information with her friends. Sting widened his eyes in disbelief when he saw the paper, very surprised that an eighth crystal was in existence, and that really made him curious. When Samantha came to Shioru Town, why was she impressed to see Lucy have seven crystals? Normally, an incomplete collection wouldn't be impressive. However, something was definitely weird for Samantha to celebrate someone finding seven crystals instead of eight.

Sting took a close look at the paper while he thought about the quest for the Rainbow Crystals, remembering how the seven crystals were items that many wizards wanted to obtain, but Samantha kept the black crystal to herself while no one else knew about it. That was not exactly fair to anyone else in the ancient challenge, as getting all seven of the crystals was certainly easier said than done, and Sting would definitely tell Lucy about the paper that was found in the office. The mages chose to run out of the office and just wait for Lucy to finish, but they soon heard some people talking.

Kira and the others could hear Minami's band members talking in a nearby room with Chisato, saying how it was boring for them to just wait around while they couldn't even rehearse some songs without their lead singer, and the protagonists from Sabertooth quickly went towards that room. Sting got to see a guy who wore a blue leather jacket with blue jeans to match while his messy hair was brown, and there was a purple-haired girl who had her hair in a bob style while she wore a light green shirt with some brown shorts to match. There was also a green-haired guy whose hair was in a mullet while he wore a dark green tuxedo with green pants to match, and they all sat down at a table.

"You guys are just waiting here?" Sting asked them in a curious tone while looking puzzled, thinking they'd wait on the ground floor.

The brown-haired guy who was the bass guitarist told him in a carefree manner, smiling a bit, "Yeah, we've had to wait long for this challenge. We're actually glad to have some company show up."

The girl who was the keyboardist with purple hair told Sting in a somewhat excited manner, immediately recognizing him, "Whoa, you're Sting Eucliffe from Sabertooth! Lucy Heartfilia is Minami's friend and your girlfriend! You've should've seen how Minami was ready to rock when she left the room! She sings well, and she rocks hard with magic!"

Sting looked at her mint green eyes while thinking it was nearly impossible to find anyone as excited as Kira, but this purple-haired girl was certainly enjoying the fact that she was now meeting one of Fiore's best dragon slayers for the first time. Kira and Rogue introduced themselves to the band members, who were glad to compliment them on their successes in the Grand Magic Games, and Kira was even asked if it felt absolutely awesome to be in the air during her fight against Kagura. Samantha may have brought tension to the mages from Sabertooth, but Sting did like seeing the mood shift.

As he glanced at Chisato and proceeded to glance at the pink pair of doors, Sting found it to be very interesting that the members of the Elite Seven were all people who Lucy met at different points during her quest for the Rainbow Crystals. Samantha certainly set up this challenge specifically for her, and seeing how she was exhausted after the past three fights made Sting see that Kira and the others were not messing around at all. The Elite Seven certainly fought to the best of their abilities, and Sting hoped that Lucy could beat Minami.

* * *

 **Meanwhile, at the Sabertooth guild...**

Minerva was looking at the request board while she wondered about which job would be good to handle, and she hoped to get a job done before Sting's group returned to the guild. She would want to tell Lucy how she spent some time getting actual work done instead of goofing around at a fashion designer's party, and the black-haired woman hoped that her teammates got a good lunch to the point where they would be too full to even eat the dinner that she was buying. It simply meant that she would not have to share food, and Minerva could spend the rest of the day bragging about her success.

She wondered about which of the seven jobs would be the best one, seeing a mage from Eisetsu Town request some snowballs be made while a woman from Mumargi Town was willing to reward someone who could win at a tough carnival game, and someone in Voltage Town needed to test out their strong lightning spells against someone who could dodge them with very little effort. Minerva grinned with confidence while thinking she could all three of these jobs that came with high amounts of money as the rewards, but Sabertooth's entrance doors soon opened up to reveal something nice.

"Levy, telling me to transform into a giant vulture for us to fly here and using your magic to increase my speed was a great idea." Mira nicely told her friend while her hands were still on the doors.

The blue-haired girl responded as she smiled at Mira, holding the brown diary in her hands, "Well, we had to do something. Maybe Lu-chan's here for us to give her the diary."

Minerva asked the girls while turning to face them, sternly wondering what they wanted, "What business do you have with the prestigious guild of Sabertooth?"

Levy walked up to her and explained that Lucy gave her the brown diary to translate, and now she wanted to give it back. Minerva took the diary from Levy's hands while informing her that Lucy and Sting weren't here right now, saying how they went to go celebrate with Samantha Kalos at the top of her fashion company, and Minerva told the girls that it could be quite a while before they returned to Shioru Town. That only made Levy sigh in a disappointed manner, as she thought that the diary's information was critical, and she began to look down at the red carpet.

Minerva opened up the diary to a random page while finding it easy to read, trying to concentrate as Mirajane loudly spoke of how Samantha Kalos looked like a cool fashion designer, but Minerva's eyes couldn't stay on the diary as she clenched her right fist. Hearing anyone talk about how Samantha was great had really irked Minerva to the core, especially since she thought that Samantha hardly deserved any of that fame, and Minerva narrowed her green eyes as Mira told Levy that she would take a moment to just see the prices of the designer's clothes.

Minerva used her right hand to warp Mirajane close to her, telling her that she and Levy were not going anywhere, and Minerva told them that Samantha was a very overrated celebrity. She even talked about how the black hair clips that she wore were stupid-looking, since she felt that any idiot could design something so simple, and Mira was surprised to hear that someone from the best guild in Fiore hated someone who was just as famous. In fact, she was really curious as to why the powerful woman from Sabertooth despised a fashion idol.

Levy and Mira watched Minerva sternly tell them how the guild members were not even doing work during all the hours that Samantha was in Shioru Town, deciding to just take pictures with her, and get autographs that probably wouldn't sell for massive amounts of money in the future. Seeing all of her teammates shirk work for that one woman who had cruddy designs was like watching Sabertooth have a day of idiocy, and Minerva honestly thought that Samantha Kalos wore clothes that were totally tacky. In her opinion, black and white clothes were a very cliched fashion choice for a famous person.

Levy asked Minerva in a kind manner, smiling as an idea formed in her mind, "If you dislike her so much, why not just say all that stuff to her face?"

Mirajane added nicely as she smiled with her eyes closed, wanting to use that to their advantage, "Yeah, go to Nurie Town and talk badly to her. Sorcerer Magazine will love that explosive news, Minerva. It might make more of her haters join your guild."

Minerva replied as she smirked deviously, "That is so true, girls. If more people know that Samantha is really a loser, then Sabertooth will rightfully have more fame than her. While Lucy is modeling for that tacky girl, I'll gladly maul Samantha."

Before anyone could say another word, Minerva warped out of the guild with the brown diary. She had trained hard enough to where her Territory Magic could help her travel far distances in a very short amount of time, and Minerva would not mind crashing the party at Samantha's company. She had wanted to stay at the Sabertooth guild and make sure that no one would create any chaos, but Mirajane and Levy would gladly watch over the guild while its main members were out on a job. In fact, Mira wasted no time with going behind the bar to just see what flavors of soda were in the cabinets.

Levy hoped that Minerva would be able to give Lucy the diary, especially since it would allow the blonde-haired girl to ask Samantha about why she was calm when she initially said that the book meant nothing to her, and Levy honestly wished that she could'v gone with Minerva to understand some of the things that would be said. All she could do was wait at the guild with Mirajane until the protagonists returned, but Levy did like how today was quite sunny with a good amount of warm sunlight shining down on to the town of Shioru.

She wondered if Lucy was having fun in Nurie Town, but the brown-eyed girl from Fairy Tail also wondered if it had been really fun for Lucy to obtain all of the Rainbow Crystals. Levy herself had not tried to look for any of them, but Gajeel actually ignored a pink Starry Crystal when he had to handle a recent job in the Astral Ruins near Hyakkoku Town. Collecting all of those beautiful items must've been quite a feat, especially since Levy could believe the claims of Lucy defeating seven tough people to get them, and she was quite proud of her friend.

In fact, Levy couldn't wait to just see Lucy come back to the guild and congratulate her for being the newest person to complete that amazing quest. She proceeded to sit down at one of the tables in the guildhall while wondering if Lucy was enjoying herself at the celebration, and Levy only felt sad that other people from Fairy Tail were in different parts of Fiore right now. They would not all be able to congratulate Lucy for her achievements or even simply get to surprise her, but fate would probably make something occur in a nice way.

* * *

 **In the pink room...**

Lucy felt confident enough to unleash the first new spell that was known as Heavenly Star Ring, and it caused her to shoot out ten rose pink projectiles from her left hand while they were star-shaped. They simply floated in midair while Lucy stood across from Minami, who kicked the air to send a pink wave of Heavenly Body Magic in Lucy's direction, and Lucy applied magic to her feet for the purpose of springing upward. She made her ten stars go towards Minami while they formed a rose pink ring, and they struck the guitarist while moving at high speeds!

Ten rose pink blasts occurred while each one was more powerful than the one that came before it, and Minami was heavily damaged by them. She used her spell called Heaven's Healing, however, and a pink aura engulfed her hands. She placed her hands on her stomach to make the aura engulf her body, causing her wounds to be fully healed, and Minami ran towards Lucy as she watched her fall back down to the ground. She stretched out her left arm to hit Lucy with a punch, sending her sliding back a few feet, but that only made Lucy smile softly.

She unleashed her next move that was known as Starry Anistar Shot, and it simply caused Lucy to fire a rose pink beam of energy from her mouth. It was seven times larger than Heavenly Cannon Shot, but the spell moved just as fast. Lucy aimed it past Minami, which made the rocker widen her eyes in amazement, but Minami turned around to stretch out her right hand. She focused her psychic energy on the beam, breaking it up into seven smaller beams, but they suddenly moved much faster to strike her with high amounts of force!

Minami was wounded by the powerful attacks that created rose pink explosions while their side effect increased Lucy's speed to where she was seven times faster than normal, and it was clear that Lucy was starting to be the lead guitarist in this cosmic fight. She chose to use the third new spell of her Heavenly Body Magic, and it was called Starry Teleport. The rose pink book instructed Lucy to lower her hands down to her sides, and she hoped to warp behind Minami for a surprise attack. However, Lucy soon noticed that nothing was happening at all.

"The spell didn't work? What's going on?" Lucy asked aloud while looking frustrated, thinking she wasted time.

Minami told her in a somewhat arrogant tone, really surprised, "Wow, this match got easier! Lucy, you have a new spell and you can't even use it!"

She added arrogantly as a new spell appeared in her right hand, "You can't use that spell, but I can definitely use this one."

Minami held a pink ball in her hand while five small pink stars began to float around it in a circle, and she threw it towards Lucy. The ball moved at very rapid speeds while it would explode upon making contact with Lucy, but it suddenly got warped behind Minami! This gave both her and Lucy quite a shock, and Lucy could now assume that Starry Teleport only worked when other spells were active. It couldn't teleport the user anywhere, but it could warp spells to different parts of a room in the blink of an eye. Minami was now struck by her own spell that created a massive pink blast, but her psychic abilities manipulated the blast to where it propelled her forward.

She struck Lucy in the chest with a move known as Astral Kick, sending her flying backwards while she was moving in midair, and Minami quickly ran towards her. She placed her palms on the ground while raising her feet up, and the pink-haired guitarist made her powerful kicks send Lucy up quite high. Minami sprang up high to reach Lucy, only to see her activate the fourth new spell of Heavenly Body Magic, and it was known as Starry Psychic Psi. This move caused Lucy's eyes to go from being brown to being bubblegum pink, and she raised her hands upward in a slow manner.

A pink aura surrounded Minami's body as she began to float in midair, her high speed starting to slow down, and Lucy's thoughts allowed the psychic energy of her aura to slam Minami down to the ground at rapid speeds! She hit the ground with a hard thud, which was payback for what she did earlier to Lucy, and Minami felt hr body be raised up into the air for her to be in front of Lucy. Just like with Astral Psi, this spell could still be in effect while other moves were used. In fact, Lucy was hoping to handle Minami in a close-range situation that would be similar to when they first met.

She called upon the fifth new spell called Astral Meteor, and Lucy made the book float away from her right hand before she harshly grabbed Minami's wrists. The mage from Sabertooth fired a large rose pink beam of heavenly energy from her mouth, striking Minami at close-range, and the rose pink explosion was quite large, The girl from Hyakkoku Town fell down to the ground while the Starry Psychic Psi spell wore off, and Lucy was definitely gaining control of this battle. That would not stop Minami from trying to take back the rhythm of this battle, though.

"Let's see if you can handle this, Lucy! Psychic Confusion!" Minami shouted up to her while looking fierce, before firing a pink ball of energy from her mouth.

Lucy replied sternly as she grabbed her rose pink book and opened it up to find the newest page, "Let's also see if you can withstand this, Minami!"

Lucy unleashed her sixth spell that was known as Heavenly Spacial Rends, and she waved her left hand down at Minami in a slashing manner. She watched a slashing wave of heavenly energy appear, and she watched it quickly descend towards Minami for the purpose of trapping her in a rose pink sphere. The sphere went through a massive implosion, dealing damage to Minami's body, and the guitarist's spell went past Lucy's attack to fiercely strike her. It created a large pink explosion while Lucy was sent falling to the ground, and the spell also hit her with a large amount of psychic energy.

She slowly got up while being bruised and bloodied like Minami, watching her foe slowly get back on her feet, and both girls panted heavily. Minami's attack did so much damage to Lucy, doing almost the same amount of damage that Lucy dealt to her, and it was unclear who would win. Minami made her index and middle fingers point downward in an 'X' formation, feeling like she'd have to use her final spell at its absolute maximum power to win this battle, and Lucy gasped in shock as she recognized that stance from the fight at the museum.

That prompted Lucy to unleash her last evolved spell of Heavenly Body Magic, and it was called Cosmic Reign. She looked straight up while firing a rose pink sphere of heavenly energy from her mouth, and it exploded in midair to send seven beams of Heavenly Body Magic down towards Minami. This spell caused Lucy's eyes to be bubblegum pink again while she commanded the beams to come down on Minami from seven different directions, and she hoped that her spell would help her attain victory in this battle.

Minami's final spell involved her shooting out a large pink ball of Heavenly Body Magic from her mouth, liking how it was the size of a meteor, and she sent it flying towards Lucy at high speeds. Both of these final spells were quite powerful, possibly doing enough damage to destroy the entire room, and they were fast enough to strike both of the girls. Seven rose pink blasts transpired around Minami while seven bubblegum pink blasts occurred around Lucy, and both girls made their attacks be filled with enough psychic energy to where it felt like harsh punches to their bodies. They both screamed in pain while the attacks shook the entire fashion company, making the other Sabertooth mages fall to the ground, and the blasts surrounding Minami were strong enough to greatly damage the wall behind her.

Lucy and her friend were still standing while bubblegum pink and rose pink clouds covered the battlefield, both girls panting heavily as they locked eyes, but who would win? Minami inhaled some Heavenly Body Magic that was in the air, applying it to her feet for the purpose of walking over to Lucy, and the guitarist smiled at her while seeing that Lucy was exhausted from that harsh fight. Minami herself was quite tired, but she felt like there was still enough magical power left inside of her for one final spell to be used.

"Heaven's Healing. Congrats, Lucy. You rocked out in this fight with some great spells, and you definitely proved that you can rock all the way up to the stars." Minami nicely told her friend as she put her hands on Lucy's stomach, her eyes filled with admiration.

Lucy replied with confidence in her eyes that became brown again, glad to have won, "Thank you, Minami. This challenge was very difficult and long, but I'll be glad to celebrate with Samantha Kalos at the company's rooftop."

Minami softly told Lucy before passing out and falling backwards, "You beat the last of the Elite Seven, Lucy, but you aren't done. There still remains.. the black doors."

As the pink doors opened up for Lucy to run out of the room, the pink aura from the Starry Crystal came up through the floor. Sting was glad to see Lucy emerge from the room, happily running towards her, and Minami's band members ran out of the room where they had been waiting for her. Kira and Rogue also ran up to Lucy while they saw Minami's band members run into the room where she was unconscious, and the protagonists from Sabertooth watched Chisato run after them. She chose to be the one who would heal Minami's wounds, and Chisato even brought her guitar to let the purple-haired keyboardist hold on to it.

The musicians touched the pink aura to quickly be warped back to Hyakkoku Town,Chisato quickly touching the aura with her left hand while she held Minami's right hand, and that was the last aura that could take anyone home. Lucy and her friends watched the pink doors start to close while thinking about how they were the only strong wizards left in Samantha's fashion company right now, hearing the ominous silence of no one left to battle, but the black pair of doors that were down the hallway slowly parted from each other to reveal that one matter was still left to settle.

Lucy smiled nicely at the thought of finally seeing Samantha again, causing her to run down the hallway for the purpose of wanting to help her with her company's celebration on the rooftop, but Sting and Kira quickly ran after her while they really wanted to see what Samantha's grand plan was going to be. Rogue ran after his friends as he hoped that they would not get too hasty, knowing that one bad move could result in everyone getting severely hurt, and he hoped that Samantha would not immediately start getting malicious.

The protagonists quickly reached the black doorway that led out of to the grey rooftop, surprisingly seeing a red strand of hair be blown into the hallway by a gentle breeze of wind, and Sting widened his blue eyes as he picked up the hair. He recalled how the receptionist known as Mayumi was planning on telling Samantha that she was resigning, which probably was not taken too well by the famous fashion designer, and it seemed like that hair was the only thing left of Mayumi. Lucy slowly took a step out of the rooftop, and the blonde-haired fashion designer slowly turned around to greet her.

"Ah, you've finally made it. It must've been tough to beat the Elite Seven, Lucy, but you and your friends also found it easy to sneak around my company. You uncovered dark secrets that could ruin me, so I hope you'll let me kill you and give your energy to the Shadow Crystal." Samantha told Lucy with a vicious smile on her face, her grey eyes showing malice.

Lucy thought to herself as she began to look shocked and start to tremble, sensing the ominous magical power emanating from the Shadow Crystal, _"That black crystal... I've never seen it before, but it gives me a very bad feeling."_

* * *

**How was Chapter 47? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Also, this is important. Only three chapters of this story are left to be written. That's right, everyone. We are coming down to the very end of "The Feeling of Rejection." It's unbelievable that we've come this far, and I want to thank all of you who encouraged me to get to this point. I'm so excited for what's next. Also, Happy Halloween!**


	48. Chapter 48

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **The Shadow Crystal's Darkness**

* * *

Lucy looked quite shocked from seeing Samantha glare at her like she was now an intruder, but she was even more astounded to see the black crystal behind the fashion designer. The seven auras that took almost all of Lucy's opponents home were now positioned around the Shadow Crystal in a heptagonal formation, the first three auras being at the top three corners in the formation while the other four were on the bottom corners, and both sections had the auras positioned from left to right in the order they were supposed to be found.

The onyx black crystal began to shine its dark light outward while Samantha turned to face it, seeing that it could sense that all seven auras were present, and each of the auras went towards it. The red aura of the Fire Crystal went first, followed by the orange aura of the Earth Crystal, and the yellow aura of the Electric Crystal also followed suit. The green aura of the Verdant Crystal was the fourth one to hastily go towards the Shadow Crystal, followed by the blue aura of the Cerulean Crystal, and then the purple aura of the Requiem Crystal. The pink aura of the Starry Crystal was the last one to touch the black crystal, and the auras were sucked into its darkness.

Black clouds of smoke soon surrounded it in an eerie manner while it let out a black wave of dark energy, knocking Lucy and her friends down to the ground, but Samantha could only laugh as she took several steps back towards her large crystal. Lucy and her friends got up to see Samantha walking back to where she was merely centimeters away from having any part of her body touch the crystal, and Lucy got up while she wondered why Samantha needed to be so flashy for this last part of the challenge. Even though she was a fashion designer and the champion, did she really have to be a showoff right now?

Lucy walked towards her while stating her intention to finish this challenge, but she also wanted to know why Samantha was doing this. It seemed like she was a wonderful fashion designer who got her inspiration from the Rainbow Crystals, but the blonde-haired woman desired more than that. She watched her black crystal continue to shine its dark light, watching the dark energy make a black sphere form in her left hand, and Samantha smirked evilly at Lucy as she felt like this would be a good time to simply explain her motives.

"Since you won't be around much longer, I guess I'll tell you why I need this crystal. It shall allow me to have the most power out of anyone, even allowing me to be stronger than any mage in Fiore, and I can rule the entire kingdom with my crystal's darkness. People would bow before me, and they'd keep buying my clothes to give me more money. I can even recruit more models, and they'll follow me to the very end. After all, fame and wealth give you power over others." Samantha told Lucy as she smirked evilly, before giggling.

Lucy responded in a serious tone as she narrowed her brown eyes, clenching her left fist, "Samantha, I really admired you. You really seemed so nice on the surface, but you were just pretending. You want to selfishly use others to keep your fame? To me, that's just disgusting. I won't let you send Fiore into darkness!"

Samantha replied while locking eyes with Lucy, wanting to truly see how far she came, "I'm willing to fight you, as long as you fight alone. The best wizard in the ancient challenge is someone who can take down the last opponent with her own strength, so show me what you've learned! As the champion of the ancient challenge, I will be glad to battle you!"

Lucy started off this fight with her spell that was known as Heavenly Star Ring, and she shot out ten rose pink projectiles from her left hand while they were star-shaped. They simply floated in midair, but Lucy made them all go towards Samantha. They formed a rose pink ring while it seemed like their ten powerful blasts would be devastating, but Samantha aggressively threw her black ball at the attack! It immediately detonated when it hit Lucy's attack, creating a black blast of energy that was quite large, and it severely weakened Lucy's attack to where it was easily eradicated.

Samantha activated a move called Nightmarish Speed, and a black aura engulfed her body. She ran towards Lucy at immensely high speeds, before striking her several times in the face with harsh punches, and Samantha kicked her in the chest four times. She quickly leaped away from Lucy to see ten black blasts surround her while the protagonist screamed in immense pain, and the blasts felt hot like flames from Fire Magic. Lucy took immense damage from that attack, but she was not planning to give up at all.

She reached into the right pocket of her dress with her left hand and opened the case, and she wasted no time with picking up the Requiem Crystal for the purpose of making it touch the book's cover. As the spell book became amethyst purple, Lucy unleashed the move called Venomous Flame. A large amethyst purple flame appeared in front of her, and Lucy punched it upward for it to split into many smaller flames. They rapidly descended to the ground while gaining speed and power, but that hardly made Samantha see any reason to worry.

Lucy watched her foe stretch her arms out in opposite directions while she began to spin with Nightmarish Speed still in effect, and Samantha used a move called Horrific Winds. She was soon engulfed in a tornado of black winds that appeared around her, and the flames exploded while they hardly dealt any damage to her barrier. Samantha directed the tornado towards Lucy while creating six more of them, quickly sending them all at her with the Shadow Crystal's dark magic boosting their ferocity, and the high winds pulled Lucy towards them.

She was soon caught in seven vicious explosions that were quite powerful, sending her high up into the air, and Sting looked horrified to see Lucy getting beaten so easily. The sight of Samantha jumping up in the air to slam both of her feet down on Lucy's stomach was certainly not fun to watch, and Lucy was sent crashing into the ground! Samantha got off of Lucy to see her slowly stand up, watching her pant heavily, and Lucy pulled out the Cerulean Crystal from the right pocket of her dress. She placed it on the book for it to become light blue, but would that do anything?

"She's definitely earned her title as the champion, and those spells are insanely powerful! I call upon thee, Icy Hailstorm!" Lucy said aloud as she looked frustrated, hoping that her next spell could be a nice setup for another move.

Samantha asked her in a calm manner, folding her arms, "Do you really think you can beat me?"

Lucy told her in a stern tone, "As long as I believe in myself and use clever tactics, then I can certainly beat you!"

Lucy's spell made a light blue cloud appear several feet above the fashion company, and it began to glow brighter while sending large chunks of ice down to the battlefield. They struck the ground to create light blue blasts of energy, but Samantha's Nightmarish Speed spell allowed her to dodge each chunk of ice with ease. As she saw the spiky balls of ice appear on the ground, Samantha simply frowned while thinking that she would need to get rid of those nuisances. Even if Lucy had a plan, her foe would not let it go smoothly.

Samantha activated a spell called Dark Despair, and it caused a large black hand to rise up from the one of the spiky ball's shadows. It aggressively slammed itself on the spiky ball while having a wide range, making the others be destroyed as well, and it even brushed some of them aside to send them upward. They exploded in midair while Lucy could only watch her plan fall apart, and the shadowy hand picked up the remaining seven balls to crush them with ease. Lucy looked utterly shocked from seeing another move be torn through, canceling out the Icy Hailstorm spell for the cloud to disappear, and she breathed with anxiety creeping into her mind.

Samantha's shadowy hand proceeded to viciously slam itself down on Lucy five times, knocking her back down each time she tried to get up, and the fashion designer cackled evilly from making the hand grab Lucy. It began to squeeze her tightly for twenty seconds before dropping her to the ground, making her feel incredibly pained, and Lucy struggled to stand up. Her legs felt wobbly like jelly as she was bruised and bleeding, that spell having such an evil level of power while it struck with immense malice, but Lucy did not want to lose.

Her left arm was nearly broken while she shakily reached for the green Verdant Crystal, gathering enough willpower to place it on the book for it to become dark green, and Lucy put the crystal back in her pocket. She activated the move called Zephyr's Windy Rage, and this spell caused a mint green ball of Wind Magic to be fired from Lucy's left hand. She exhaled air towards this attack three times, causing three miniature tornadoes of wind to surround the ball, and the spell headed straight for Samantha. Lucy felt quite exhausted as she fell to her left side, and she hoped this move would work.

"Do you really think I can't just dodge this attack or block it, Lucy? Do you really take me for a fool who will be hit by this spell you've-" Samantha asked in a rather arrogant manner as she looked quite smug, before being cut off by the attack quickly hitting her.

Kira said aloud as she smiled at the situation, "Well, that certainly shut her up."

Samantha asked in an angry manner as she was badly bruised by that attack, wanting to know what just happened, "All right, who did that?!"

Sting merely closed his mouth before calmly saying that his White Dragon's Roar at maximum power was good for speeding up certain spells, and he liked seeing how the light made Samantha feel pains around her stomach area. She angrily glared at him for intervening in a fight that didn't concern him, and Samantha chose to make him pay as she slowly shifted her attention to Lucy. The blonde-haired girl could barely stand up, and one lucky shot with help from her boyfriend would not turn the tide of this battle.

Samantha fired a large black sphere at Lucy, saying how it was called Noir's Annihilation, and she watched Lucy become trapped within the tight sphere. Black blades of energy began to strike her from all directions within the sphere, making several harsh cuts be on her body while she felt agonizing pain, and some scratch marks were even on Lucy's face. Blood slowly trickled down from her wounds while she felt utterly exhausted, but the black ball of dark magic soon viciously imploded! Lucy was caught in the black blast while taking immense damage, and Samantha merely smirked at her.

Lucy coughed up some blood while her body was in tons of pain, and she could barely keep her eyes open. She hardly had the energy to even cast any simple spells, since taking so much damage and using evolved spells really drained her magical power, and she looked at Samantha to see her start laughing. Lucy could barely stand up as her legs would not stop shaking, and a harsh pain in her stomach sent her falling forward while she nearly lost consciousness. Samantha was just far too strong for her to handle, tearing through her spells with ease, and Lucy felt like none of her spells would work.

Even though Lucy could no longer fight, Samantha felt like she would need more power to make Sting see he was wrong to intervene. She walked up to the Shadow Crystal and created large a black sphere that had a smaller black sphere within it, liking how this move was in her right hand, and she threw it at the black crystal. The Shadow Crystal could feel Samantha's desire to stop Lucy, sensing her envy of how Lucy was getting famous, and Samantha placed her right hand on the black crystal. She was wanting more of its power for her to destroy the mages from Sabertooth, but something sinister started to happen.

"What?! What's going on?!" Samantha asked aloud while seeing more dark clouds of smoke be around the crystal, watching a circular dark void spread out from underneath it.

Sting shouted to her in a concerned tone while seeing Samantha's spell emerge from the very top of the crystal to go high in the air, watching the black crystal shine with more black beams of light, "I think you overloaded it! Get away from there!"

"I thought the Shadow Crystal was able to handle all the power that its wielder infused into it! Now it's doing this on its own!" Samantha shouted in an alarmed manner, before the black aura rose up from the void to enter her body in a large amount.

Sting, Kira, and Rogue could only watch Samantha's hair become black while the aura engulfed her in a wider area, and the attack she used earlier was still several feet in the air. It soon exploded, resulting in darkness spreading across the sky, and Sting looked quite horrified to see the sky become dark with the blackness of the Shadow Crystal. He watched Samantha slowly turn around with her hair being black while her grey eyes soon became pupil-less, and her teeth became fanged as she was succumbing to the evil power that she desired.

* * *

 **Ten minutes later, in Nurie Town...**

Minerva got into the town of Nurie, bypassing the long train ride and security check that would occur at the train station, and she hoped to find Samantha's fashion company. The black-haired woman grinned slightly as she could sense a high amount of magical power coming from one area, believing that to be Lucy showing off her high amount of power against someone who wanted to fight her, and Minerva simply began walking towards that energy. If she were to find Lucy there, then Samantha would probably be there as well.

She hoped to ruin the over-hyped reputation of Samantha Kalos with the diary's information, as it would allow Sabertooth to get the most respect in Fiore, and Minerva thought about ripping off one of the black rhombus-shaped earrings that Samantha wore. She would also inform any of Samantha's fans that they were merely spending their precious cash on clothes that were overpriced, and that would make Sabertooth look like they knew fashion much better than a designer who rose to fame with a few great successes.

Minerva's green eyes soon took notice of what was going on in the sky, seeing it be dark because of the Shadow Crystal's energy amplifying the power of that move Samantha used, and several people stood around as they wondered why it was happening. The stern businessman who Lucy's group encountered earlier was now looking somewhat scared, as he was hoping that the mage known as Zeref was not trying to make a big entrance into the town of Nurie, and he did not even think about getting a cup of coffee right now.

He recalled hearing an attack loudly explode over the rooftop of Samantha's company, causing him to look at the street on the far-right where the fashion company was located, and he stood a few feet away from the train station while Minerva was several feet away from him. She decided to run up to the man who kept looking in that direction, as that would probably be a nice way for her to quickly find her allies and Samantha, but Minerva was not exactly going to act like she was the fashion designer's biggest fan.

"Could you tell me where that piece of garbage named Samantha Kalos is? Her stupid company is in this town, right?" Minerva asked the man with messy brown hair, narrowing her eyes at him as she held the diary in her hands.

The brown-haired man replied in a startled manner as he turned to face Minerva, surprised that the darkness didn't faze her, "Wow, I didn't expect you to come up to me so quickly like that! Samantha 's company is on the far-right street of this town, and it is the black building. It's larger than the fashion stores, so you can't miss it."

Minerva responded calmly, before running off, "Thanks. Also, don't be such a frightened man because of some darkness."

Even if the darkness seemed scary to most people, Minerva would not be frightened. After all, she would just go up to Samantha and ask her what the theatrics are about. Minerva assumed that she was attempting to show off a dark fashion line of clothing by making the sky dark, simply trying to put on a large show for everyone in Fiore, and she imagined the great thought of hitting Samantha with one large punch to knock her out. That was a good plan in theory, but would it truly end up working out like that in reality?

She opened up the brown diary to see the runes that Levy translated into English, seeing a page that talked about how the Shadow Crystal caused the co-workers of Lumina's mother to die from magic deficiency disease, and Minerva could guess that people who could not control dark power were not allowed to be worthy of it. She had read some books in the Sabertooth guild's library that talked about how anyone who desired dark power needed to really have the heart for it to work with their magical power, but dark magic would kill the user or make them be diseased if they could not have enough malice or hostility for certain spells to be unleashed.

Minerva flipped through some pages to reach a section that featured information Levy didn't read at the guild, and the woman with green eyes seemed quite amazed at what she silently read as she ran to the fashion company. Minerva could read quite fast, and she proceeded to close the book while this next piece of evidence against Samantha would certainly be nice. In fact, Minerva would enjoy saying it to her face. She continued to sense the high amount of magical power while she reached the far-right street, sensing it to not be very far away, and Minerva easily spotted Samantha's black skyscraper.

She ran towards it while running at very high speeds, not wanting to hear Kira make snarky remarks about how she was quite slow, and Minerva soon arrived at the front door. She decided to warp inside the company, thinking that the front doors were locked because of how no one was on the ground floor, and she took notice of the two doorways that Lucy and Kira went through for the first round of the Rainbow Mastery challenge. However, Minerva's eyes caught sight of the stairs and she proceeded to run up to the first floor.

 _"Samantha Kalos, I have found quite a good amount of dirt on you! Celebrate while you still can, since I'm about to make you look like an idiot at your own party!"_ Minerva thought to herself with a determined facial expression as she ran up the stairs, ready to end Samantha's fame.

As she quickly reached the first floor and ran down the hallway to find the next set of stairs, Minerva wondered if she really saw Lector stuffing slices of pizza into the mouths of some girls on an adjacent street while she ran. If he was trying to help them not be famished, then Sabertooth would look more selfless than Samantha could ever be. Minerva hastily ran past the rooms where some models were located, making them wonder why wizards seemed to be in such a hurry when they were in this company, and the darkness that Minerva would eventually see at the rooftop would probably be somewhat unsettling.

The darkness was not just over Nurie Town, however. The sky fell into shadows all over Fiore, even making it be quite dark in places such as Eisetsu Town and Mumargi Town, and even the people with psychic abilities in Hyakkoku Town could not have predicted this. Everyone wondered what the darkness in the sky was for, and it was only over Fiore. Minerva began to hear the building shake while the entire town was actually rumbling like an earthquake was transpiring, and she tripped near the stairs while wondering if anyone else was dealing with this craziness.

* * *

 **Twenty minutes later, on Emblaze Island...**

Natsu made a flame engulf his right hand while he sat down at a red patio table with Lisanna, telling her to not be afraid of the shadowy darkness that was over the island, and they sat down with hopes that the rumbling earth would not trigger a massive tsunami. Natsu wondered about what was happening on the mainland of Fiore, as he saw the dark shadows spread from there, and the fire dragon slayer hoped that none of his friends would be in trouble. He looked determined to go help them, but it would be pointless without finding out where the darkness was originating from.

His enhanced hearing allowed him to pick up on some of Fairy Tail's guild members going out of the guild to discover that the sky fell into darkness, and Natsu could even hear Erza tell Makarov that she was back from her job while also seeing that the malevolent darkness spread all the way to Hyakkoku Town. Natsu decided to get up from the table and shoot the flame on his hand upward, making it be like a flare that caused a fiery explosion in the darkness, and he hoped that it would get the attention of his friends. That flame was quickly charged up with a sufficient amount of magical power, so the explosion was quite large and loud.

Lisanna smiled at Natsu while they vowed to protect each other in this darkness, even saying that an earthquake was nothing that they couldn't handle, and Juvia was still in Fairy Tail to deal with any tsunamis that would possibly rise up from the water. Natsu seemed confident about taking down whoever was creating this darkness, thinking that he could strike them with a barrage of powerful attacks to make his enemy never even think of doing this again, and the pink-haired male hoped that there would be a way for the sky to be its normal blue color again.

His flame and the flames of other fire-wielding mages in Kasai Town were the only sources of light on the dark island right now, and some of them even wondered how they would be able to get home in the darkness. Ships were not going to arrive at Emblaze Island anytime soon, due to no one having any idea of what else the darkness would bring, and Natsu watched the rolling waves crash against Emblaze Island. He proceeded to sit back down as he wondered if the volcano on this island would be affected, and Lisanna was just as concerned.

"Natsu, should we leave the island if an eruption possibly happens?" Lisanna asked him with worry in her cute blue eyes, as her left hand gently reached over to touch his left hand.

He responded with a confident grin on his face, ready to take on that situation, "Relax, Lisanna! I'll just eat all the lava, and it'll be a really good meal!"

Lisanna told him with a nice smile, giggling a bit, "Wow, Natsu. Even in the darkest situation, your smile still brightens up the situation for me."

The two mages slowly stood up from the red chairs while they were planning to go back to the guild, and Natsu felt glad that he defeated that kid in Emblaze Island's volcano. Even though he would have to find Fire Crystals in the volcano and hand them out to anyone who won against him, Natsu would most likely just challenge them near the repaired dock. He overheard some mages talk earlier about a certain girl who managed to ignite the sea and make it be red with extremely hot flames, so a fight above a flaming sea seemed pretty awesome to Natsu.

He and Lisanna soon took notice of Erza flying towards them at a fast pace while she was still in her Heaven's Wheel Armor, and they got to see the scarlet-haired mage land in front of the table. She held a Lacrima Communications Crystal in her left hand while Gray's face was in it, and Erza contacted him because she hoped that he was okay up in Eisetsu Town. After all, that snowy place was always remembered for Clair's impressive strength and the dangerous avalanches that could occur because of loud sounds or earthquakes.

Gray gave Natsu and Lisanna a concerned look while hoping that his fire-wielding rival would not get too cocky on the island of Emblaze, and Erza would definitely help Natsu deal with any danger that would arise. She contacted Wendy and Carla ten minutes ago to make sure that they were doing fine in the town of Kazehana, and Gray had told Erza that he would check on Shinji later. The members of Team Natsu were technically now all together, and they seemed like it was time to look past their earlier moments of being dysfunctional. Whether they were together or apart, they still had to help each other.

On her way back to Magnolia, Erza sensed strong vibrations of magical power going through the air. The power of every blast was incredibly strong, especially the blasts that were from dark magic, and the brown-eyed woman wondered who could be using such strong attacks. She could sense them all the way from Hyakkoku Town, and their power was much crazier than her job of watching over some psychic mages who were channeling their energy into a pink orb while they stood around it in a circle. Even the psychics were able to sense that deadly power, and Erza wondered if Lucy could feel it as well.

She told her teammates in a calm tone while sternness was in her brown eyes, "After we patrol Emblaze Island and Gray handles things in Eisetsu Town, someone needs to see if the Sabertooth guild is in trouble. I know they're strong people, but this darkness is affecting all of us."

Natsu responded calmly as he frowned a bit at that idea, "Erza, I know you're worried. However, we should all make sure that Kasai Town will be safe. Don't worry about Lucy. I'm sure that Sting and Sabertooth are doing fine."

Gray added while smiling as he looked at Erza, "Yeah, Lucy will be fine. Besides, some of Winter Snowflake's mages healed Clair with their spells of Water Magic and Ice Magic. Now that she and her butler are healed, things may get much easier here in Eisetsu."

As Erza touched the blue orb to end the conversation with Gray, Clair and Hayato weren't the only ones being healed. Moka and Kurami used their spells of mud and clay to heal Shinji in Nichibotsu Town while the loyal mages of Voltage Town used their Lightning Magic to make Hikari fully recover, and the dark mages of Mumargi Town used their dark healing spells to make Kenji no longer have any injuries. Even Chisato was healing Minami right now while Yukata instructed some psychics to lend their energy to her pink-haired friend, so no one in Fiore would let the darkness keep them from helping their allies.

Even the main protagonists from Sabertooth would need to help each other in this dark hour, as they were the ones who would mainly have to face the problem, but could any mage in Fiore put an end to the darkness created by Samantha Kalos? Her level of power was astonishing to anyone who was in range to sense it, and the worst part of it all was that she had several attacks that were not even seen yet. If anyone wanted to take down the corrupt fashion designer, they would certainly have to hope that their best skills would greatly damage her.

* * *

 **Back at the fashion company's rooftop...**

Sting, Kira, and Rogue all looked quite shocked at what they were seeing. Samantha smirked evilly at the group as she aimed her right hand at Sting, and a black beam of dark energy soon emerged from her palm. Sting managed to evade the attack, however, and he aimed his White Dragon's Roar attack at her. He fired the white laser beam of light from his mouth, watching it strike her while a white blast of energy surrounded Samantha's body, but she did not even let out a scream of pain. Sting narrowed his eyes in a frustrated manner, and he wondered if the attack damaged her.

Much to everyone's shock, however, Samantha took absolutely no damage from the strong attack while the black aura surrounded her body. Kira jumped up into the air to shoot out five fireballs at Samantha, only to see them explode while not even damaging her, and Samantha aimed her right hand at the ground. She made some thin shadows rise up from Kira's shadow to touch her feet, creating black explosions upon making contact, and the red-haired merchant fell to the ground while her legs were in pain from the explosive shadows.

"With this much power, your attacks are like those of a harmless child." Samantha evilly told the group while preparing to use her next spell, her voice starting to sound somewhat demonic from the dark power consuming her.

Kira retorted with determination her voice, not planning to give up, "We'll see about that! Let's see if you can handle Flame Chandelier!"

She shot out seven large flames from her mouth, watching six of them form a hexagon around her while one of them went high up into the air, and Kira commanded all of her flames to slam against Samantha at once. They followed her order, striking Samantha with tons of power, and the flames soon exploded while their smaller flames appeared to form a chandelier around the fashion designer. Those smaller flames detonated in cherry red blasts as well, but the billowing red clouds of smoke revealed that Kira's fire had no effect!

Samantha retaliated by using her right hand to shoot out a black shadow that looked like a flame, and it headed straight for Kira. Rogue got in front of the attack in an attempt to block it with his Shadow Dragon's Roar, only to see Samantha's attack go straight through it without any sign of weakening, and her shadowy flame hit Rogue! It sent him flying against Kira and engulfed them both in a black blast that was quite massive, and the two protagonists felt harsh burns be on their bodies. The black smoke cleared up to reveal that Kira struggled to stand up, and those shadows were ones that Rogue could not eat.

Rogue's durability as a dragon slayer allowed him to continue standing, and he charged at Samantha while making Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic be in his right hand. He attempted to hit her with Shadow Dragon's Slash, only to see her snap her fingers to make a black wave of energy repel him, and Rogue was sent flying back against the black pair of doors. That wave of darkness even sent Sting and Lucy flying back as well, and all of the mages were now quite wounded. Sting used his White Dragon's Roar again, only to see Samantha's black beam of dark energy obliterate it, and he was caught in a powerful blast!

Kira aimed her left hand at Samantha to try hitting her with a simple ball of fire that was average-sized, but it still exploded without even damaging her. Samantha seemed utterly invincible in this state, and not even a Unison Raid move would probably make her be hurt. Lucy struggled to stand up while her left hand weakly reached into the right pocket of her purple dress, and she only pulled out the pearl pink case while her hand greatly shook. Lucy watched the crystals be shaken enough to fall out of the case, causing her to take the three she recently used out of her pocket, and Lucy dropped them on the ground.

"I really wanted to win.. After all this, we couldn't win.. This entire adventure with the book seems like it was for nothing, and we might all die.. I was eager to come to this company today, and I dragged you all into this.." Lucy said aloud to herself as she turned to face her wounded teammates, feeling very sorry that they were in this situation now.

Samantha aggressively told her as she frowned, clenching her fists, "The book wasn't even yours to begin with, Lucy! I used the Fire Crystal to make that book be red, but guess what?! When I was at an autograph signing one day in Nurie Town, some mages from the guild called Hell's Blaze took the red book off the table and ran away with it! When I found their guild several months after that incident, they told me that somebody stole the book!"

Kira told her in a calm manner as she frowned, "Oh, that wasn't Lucy. That was my doing."

Samantha folded her arms while saying it no longer mattered who stole it or who currently had it, since she would be sure to kill the protagonists, and the fashion designer who now had black hair told Lucy that she was powerless against her. She could only use one crystal at a time on that book, but even the most powerful spells would be useless because of how Samantha had tremendous power from the black Shadow Crystal. She cackled evilly before telling the protagonists that they were alone, and everyone else in Fiore would fall before her like faithful servants.

Lucy fell to her knees while tears formed in her eyes, really sensing that this was a very tough situation, but her fists were clenched. After everything that she and Sting went through to get the Rainbow Crystals and make Sabertooth be Fiore's best guild again, they would end up losing and be dead? Lucy couldn't stand the thought of dying or watching her friends die, and she didn't want her friends in other towns to be enslaved by the dark reign of Samantha Kalos. She didn't want to see anyone get hurt anymore, but what could she do?

Some tears began to fall on to the Rainbow Crystals while Lucy kept her fists clenched, and she wanted Samantha to stop laughing at this predicament. Even seeing her point with her left index finger was frustrating to Lucy, and she did not want any of her friends to suffer anymore. She thought about each adventure she went through with the Rainbow Crystals, recalling how she fought so hard while helping people with their different dilemmas, and those people would not want to see her die. As much as they needed her, she needed them.

Suddenly, the seven Rainbow Crystals in front of her began to shine in their respective colors. They went up into the air at a fast pace, before going off in seven different directions, and that made Samantha assume that Lucy's crystals thought she was weak enough to where they needed to abandon her. Sting and Rogue wondered why the crystals left streaks of their respective colors across the sky, almost like they were going to different places, and Kira took notice of how they seemed like seven bright trails of light in the darkness. Even though the Rainbow Crystals were now apart, they would answer Lucy's determination by creating unity.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 48? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Only two chapters of this story are left, and I'm so excited! These fanfics grow up so fast. I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, favorited, and followed this story! :)**


	49. Chapter 49

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **The Rainbow of Unity**

* * *

Lucy and her friends watched the Rainbow Crystals go to seven different parts of Fiore, amazed by that sight, but their minds were still going to be focused on their battle against Samantha Kalos. It seemed like no spell could even damage her, since she managed to just endure everyone's attacks without even getting a single scratch on her body, and the famous fashion designer intended to kill her foes. She did not want them to expose her dark nature or her dark secrets to the world for her career to ultimately be ruined, and Samantha also felt like she needed to stop Sabertooth from having more fame than her.

As the black aura surrounded Samantha's body and made her feel invincible, Sting took a few steps towards her while his blue eyes were narrowed. There was something about this situation that really seemed unfair to him, and he began to clench his fists as he thought about all that Lucy went through to get those seven Rainbow Crystals. She managed to get all of those crystals, only to discover that someone had the eighth one that they could use for their own power to be far more elite than anyone else, and the light dragon slayer thought that Samantha was a lowly cheater instead of a powerful champion.

"Samantha, you don't deserve to call yourself a champion! In fact, you weren't even playing fair in the ancient challenge. Compared to what Lucy went through to get her own set of crystals, you're just a joke." Sting sternly stated to Samantha, making everyone widen their eyes in a pretty shocked manner.

The black-haired celebrity responded as she looked quite miffed, feeling like she'd have to charge up another attack, "I did not cheat, you idiot! Allow me to explain myself. I knew about the black Shadow Crystal, but I also knew that rumors of it would eventually spread if anyone else ever came across it. Therefore, I chose to spread rumors of the ancient challenge throughout Fiore while only mentioning that seven crystals were in existence. That kept everyone unaware of the Shadow Crystal, so I merely used my rumors to my advantage."

Sting retorted in a serious tone, not liking that answer, "For a supposedly smart celebrity, you don't listen very well! We're aware of how you've got photos of the crystals and their locations, but you probably had no trouble with obtaining them. You didn't have to go through the challenges that Lucy went through, so she should be the champion."

That merely caused Samantha to start laughing evilly, and she told him that Lucy's book was now useless. None of the spells she wielded would be able to damage Samantha in any way, and even powerful attacks from a dragon slayer would hardly even feel like they were threatening. She harshly told the group to just give up and die, since hope would never get them anywhere, and Samantha smirked as she began to tell Lucy that her quest to collect the seven Rainbow Crystals would now end in tragedy and darkness.

Sting decided to slide ten feet to the left and fire his White Dragon's Roar, intentionally missing Samantha, and he did not even care that she laughed at his aim. He wondered if it would be possible to destroy her Shadow Crystal, since that was the large source of the darkness, and Sting simply had a smile of hope on his face. He watched the attack strike the crystal, watching it shine brightly with its onyx black light, and the explosion made lots of light occur. Samantha quickly ran away from it as she griped about the light being so bright, and everyone else felt good to see some light in this dark fight.

The energy from Sting's attack got sent out of the Shadow Crystal to join Lucy's seven crystals, causing them to shine brighter in their respective colors as they descended down to certain places, and those seven lights were quite bright. The black crystal seemed like it could not absorb light, which was the opposite of its darkness, and Sting simply smirked at Samantha while feeling proud that he attacked her precious crystal. If there was one thing that a fashion designer really detested, it was the situation of someone attacking or criticizing their work or possessions.

She decided to fire three black balls of dark energy at him, watching them move at high speeds, but Sting was quick to evade the attacks. He watched their massive black blasts occur while hearing Samantha angrily tell him to never harm her precious Shadow Crystal, and Sting was obscured by the large black clouds of smoke. He decided to take a page from Minerva's book and tell Samantha Kalos that he saw better fashion sense from the worst designers in Fiore, and that prompted her to start running towards where he was located.

"You stupid mage! How dare you insult me!" Samantha exclaimed as she ran towards Sting, hoping to send him falling from the roof with a harsh punch.

Sting replied calmly as he saw her aggressively run towards him, "I'm not stupid, especially if I remember the basics of fighting."

As Samantha got close to Sting, he stuck out his left foot and tripped her. She fell to the ground while the black aura still protected her from getting hurt, but the light dragon slayer simply felt like chuckling at how a woman who wielded powerful spells of darkness could literally get tripped up by such a basic move. Samantha quickly got up and attempted to hit Sting with her left fist, only to see him bite down on it with his fanged teeth, and Sting unleashed another White Dragon's Roar attack! It was now at point-blank range, and Samantha's eyes were blinded by the white blast.

Sting hastily got his mouth off of her fist for the purpose of running to Lucy's side, wanting to see if she was able to stand up, and Sting's strategy was an interesting one. While Samantha had her attention on him, the male with blond hair was simply wasting time. Even if that black aura was giving Samantha tons of magical power, that power would still deplete from using spells or physical attacks. Sting hoped to make Samantha burn up some energy, and that would give his friends some time to recharge. Lucy couldn't use any powerful spells yet, however, so that was concerning.

Samantha screamed in pain as she felt like Sting's light was in her eyes, the brightness being painful like it was acid, and she hoped that the black aura engulfing her body would soon overshadow the light. Sting watched her scream in pain while telling Lucy that her seven crystals went off to provide light to certain places, doing something good as a reflection of Lucy's good nature, but Lucy looked tense as she told him that none of her seven types of magic would have enough strength to beat Samantha. That prompted Sting to wonder if the types of magic could all work in unison, but would that be possible?

After everything that she went through with Sting, Lucy was determined to not lose this fight. She thought about how she had hardly any magical power left, though, and breaking through Samantha's invulnerability seemed very impossible. She slammed her left fist down on the mint green book while seeing the seven Rainbow Crystals slowly descend to certain spots, really wanting the seven crystals to show their full power for her like when she used those special moves involving the awesome poses, and Lucy's immense determination made the Rainbow Crystals shine more. They were going to help her succeed, but how?

* * *

 **On Emblaze Island...**

Natsu and Erza were surprised to see the red Fire Crystal float down to where their red table was located, seeing the crystal shine its beautiful red light in the darkness, and Lisanna thought that it was really pretty. Four fire-wielding mages were curious enough to check out the sight of the Fire Crystal, getting close to it and feeling a warm amount of heat emanate from it, and Lisanna stood next to Natsu as she looked curious about this red crystal. It seemed like an ordinary Rainbow Crystal to her and Erza, but one large sniff from Natsu made his eyes widen in shock.

He wasted no time with telling Erza that this Fire Crystal smelled similar to Lucy, making him assume that it must've belonged to her, but Erza wondered why one of her crystals would choose to come here. Natsu and a male wizard with red hair proceeded to touch the Fire Crystal at the same time, causing the Fire Crystal to make them see a vision of Lucy's harsh fight against Samantha while they also saw the Shadow Crystal, and both boys widened their eyes in shock. It seemed like Lucy and her friends from Sabertooth were fighting hard against Samantha, but they would not prevail.

"If Lucy is so badly wounded and doesn't have enough magical power to stand, then let her take mine! Send our fire to Kira, too!" Natsu shouted fiercely to the Fire Crystal, as he did not want any of the protagonists to die.

The other male wizard who saw the vision added with confidence in his voice, discovering a little trick, "Fire Crystals absorb fire, so hit it with everything you've got!"

Despite the fact that he only hit it with a powerful fireball, the red-haired mage was surprised to see Natsu strike the Fire Crystal with his Fire Dragon's Flame Elbow attack. He then proceeded to use Fire Dragon's Roar and Fire Dragon's Sword Horn, powering up the red crystal even more, and the other mages who used Fire Magic began to hit the crystal with their spells as well. Lisanna even saw one of the wizards strike the ground to give people more fire to use, and she picked up some flames to quickly throw them at the crystal. She turned around quickly to see Erza looking guilty, however, and Lisanna simply narrowed her blue eyes.

"Lucy could use your help as well, Erza! You may not have mended your conflict with her, but don't just stand there!" Lisanna harshly told her while not wanting Erza to just loiter.

Erza responded with an apologetic look on her face, "You may not be able to hear the truth of my words, Lucy, but let my magic show you how sorry I am!"

She requipped into her Flame Empress Armor with the intent to use her Flame Sword, and she narrowed her eyes as she proceeded to shoot out a massive beam of red fire from her sword. The Fire Crystal accepted all of that energy, and it allowed everyone else to keep firing their hot flames at it. The amount of heat was tremendous, flames burning hot with everyone's desire to help Lucy and her friends win, but this red crystal also listened to Erza confidently telling Lucy that she could win this fight. Some of the other mages started to cheer Lucy's name, too.

* * *

 **Concurrently, in the center of Nichibotsu Town...**

Moka and Kurami healed Shinji to the point where he could stand up while his wounds were healed, and the mages from Team Haina Ganseki were now standing around the orange Earth Crystal that floated down to the center of their town. Hyde touched the crystal to see an orange aura emerge from it, allowing everyone to see Lucy and her friends struggling against Samantha's dark abilities, and it even made them hear Lucy's voice begging them to lend her their magical power. Hyde didn't like the idea of giving his energy to a mage from another guild, but the sight of Samantha laughing evilly while having the eighth crystal behind her made him clench his fists at how the rumor of seven crystals to collect was merely a lie.

He decided to create some large brown stones that would be thrown at the Earth Crystal, watching it absorb them with ease, and Hyde kept doing that while Moka struck the crystal with brown blobs of explosive mud. The two mages briefly gave each other confident smiles at how they were now working great together, and Hyde even conjured up a large twister of sand. He made it touch the Earth Crystal while sensing the orange item gain more strength, and he didn't even have to give Kurami any orders to hit it continuously with her explosive clay.

Shinji stated to the Earth Crystal with a stern facial expression, wanting it to give Lucy this message, "Stand strong, Lucy! You've got the strength of Earth Magic, so slam that woman down with your best punches!"

Sutēki added calmly as an orange aura engulfed his palms, proceeding to hit the Earth Crystal with his strongest karate chops, "Fight as hard as you can, Lucy! In fact, the power of these karate chops should have enough force to snap that dark mage's neck.

The four mages continued to hit different parts of the Earth Crystal with their spells, allowing it to absorb their Earth Magic, and Shinji applied earthy energy to his feet while he leaped several feet away from the crystal. He made an orange aura largely engulf his hands while proceeding to run towards the crystal, and Shinji hit it with a fierce barrage of his strongest punches! Some of the townspeople made small sand twisters hit the Earth Crystal as well, helping their best wizards power it up to an extremely high level, and the crystal shined with its orange light.

* * *

 **Elsewhere, in Voltage Town...**

Some mages healed up Hikari to the point where she was now fully healed, and the wizards in Voltage Town were now gathered around the yellow Electric Crystal. Ayame and Hikari both wondered why it came back here, since they thought Lucy had it, but one mage striking the crystal with a beam of lightning allowed everyone to see that Lucy was failing in her battle against Samantha Kalos. The skies above Voltage Town were darker than when Hikari's mother had taken over, and the town was not going to suffer from darkness ever again.

She ordered everyone to strike the crystal with their strongest lightning spells, and Hikari rapidly fired her own strongest spells in succession. The mages stood around the Electric Crystal in a large circle, and Hikari's section of the circle stood with their backs to the church. Hikari and her friends shot out their most powerful electric spells for the yellow crystal to absorb them, feeling its level of voltage rise, and Hikari even used the Lightning Hyper Rave spell to make a large ball of lightning shoot out numerous smaller beams for the Electric Crystal to take their power.

Ayame jumped high into the air to send slashing waves of lightning down at the Electric Crystal, liking how it easily absorbed her strong lightning blasts, but even using all of their strong spells rapidly would not seem good enough to Hikari. She had now used all seven of her strongest spells in rapid succession, even sending the large sphere of Lightning Hyper Rave down on the crystal, and she panted a bit while aiming her left hand at the crystal. The mages around her were also too occupied with this matter to hear the church's doors open for a quick moment, and a certain woman walked up to her daughter.

"Even if we all use our lightning, Lucy might need more! We can't let her lose to that woman!" Hikari said to herself as she panted slightly, seeing the Electric Crystal shine with its yellow color.

Akina told Hikari in a determined tone, her green eyes narrowed as her right hand was placed on her daughter's left hand, "Anyone who's beaten me is forbidden from losing! If Lucy feels like she's on the verge of defeat, then let's see how she'll feel after receiving this nice move!"

Akina's hand and Hikari's hand were both engulfed in a yellow aura while the blonde-haired priestess commanded a move called Lightning's Holy Goddess to come down upon the crystal with its holiness of a deity, and a massive thunderbolt of lightning immediately came down from the sky! Its electrical energy also gave magical power to every user of Lightning Magic in its wide range, and Hikari was able to fire powerful spells from her right hand again. All of the electric blasts were incredibly powerful, and Lucy would definitely get a good amount of electricity.

Hikari even smiled at her mother from seeing her fire off five more powerful spells, even using Lightning's Holy Goddess again to restore the strength of anyone who became tired again, and Akina even ordered the mages to cheer Lucy on. Several people began telling Lucy to believe in herself while others happily told her to give Samantha quite a dangerous jolt, and Akina ordered her to fight with the strength of a lightning goddess. All of that lightning was not only giving Lucy power, but it would also help her get a great boost in speed.

* * *

 **Elsewhere, in the town of Kazehana...**

The green Verdant Crystal floated down to the street while it was in front of the cafe, and Takuya had gotten on his skateboard to fly up high. He saw other lights of the Rainbow Crystals in the distance, and he struck the crystal with four mint green tornadoes to see them create powerful blasts. Their energy was quickly absorbed by the crystal that proceeded to show him that Lucy was in trouble, and the mint green aura also showed him that Samantha Kalos was bragging about her black Shadow Crystal. Takuya wasn't even fazed by that woman's dark power because he thought Wind Magic was the best type, but he didn't want Lucy to lose against Samantha.

He fired several spells of Wind Magic at the Verdant Crystal while smiling confidently at how the energy got absorbed, and the sight of Hizuki coming out of the cafe with Chelia was good for him. The Verdant Crystal allowed them to hear that Lucy was in deep trouble while she was fighting to save Fiore from Samantha's darkness, and that prompted Hizuki to place her hands on the ground. She made several flowers and gigantic green plant roots rise up from the ground, making them all slam into the crystal, and it gladly absorbed her Plant Magic. Hizuki fired a dark green ball at it while Chelia used her Sky God's Bellow to hit it with black wind, and Takuya made his wing-shaped projectiles come down from the sky to strike the crystal.

Wendy came out of the cafe to see Takuya telling Hizuki that they needed to give Lucy more power, and that prompted the blue-haired girl who wore a blue T-shirt with a white skirt to use her Sky Dragon's Roar. It hit the Verdant Crystal, giving it much more of a power boost, and Hizuki fired some jungle green bullet seeds from her mouth to make the Verdant Crystal start glowing. Takuya and his friends were all quite confident as their attacks kept touching the crystal, increasing its Wind Magic and Plant Magic to very high levels, but they weren't as clever as a certain elderly woman.

"Time for this next attack, and it'll be Zephyr Hurricane!" Takuya shouted confidently as he adjusted his glasses, pretty proud to use this spell again.

The elder shouted with a serious facial expression as she sat on a nearby tree branch, gently pointing her brown wooden staff straight at Takuya, "Accelerated Wind Boost!"

That caused Takuya's spell to be created at a much faster rate, the clouds swirling at rapid speeds, and eight mint green tornadoes emerged from the center of the clouds. They all went down towards the Verdant Crystal, only to double in size from the elder aiming her staff at them while her spell sent high winds towards them, and the eight tornadoes went into the green crystal. It now shined with mint green and dark green lights, and Hizuki even created some flower petals that were sent flying towards the crystal by Takuya using his left hand to direct the wind to push them from behind. All of the Wind Magic and Plant Magic would greatly enhance Lucy's energy, and Takuya simply smiled from Hizuki choosing to proudly call him Captain Takuya.

* * *

 **Far up north, in Eisetsu Town...**

Five mages from the Winter Snowflake guild now stood around the Cerulean Crystal with Clair and Hayato, glad to have healed the town's top mages, and everyone was firing their strongest attacks of Water Magic at the crystal. Clair even made scalding hot water melt the snow to turn it into water for the purpose of making the blue crystal absorb large blue bubbles that she created, and she made them go towards the crystal at high speeds. The other mages were firing large vortexes of water at the crystal while Hayato fired large shards of ice from his right hand, and Clair certainly taught her fellow mages how to have immense power.

Clair even made seven large drills of water rise up from the puddles, and they all exploded upon touching the crystal. It was now absorbing high levels of power, even taking in a large wolf that Hayato made out of ice, and the other mages were instructed to cheer for Lucy. Hearing the Cerulean Crystal speak in her voice about how Samantha was such a tough enemy only made Clair shoot out her strongest spells in sheer frustration, not wanting powerful Water Magic to lose against someone who used dark magic with cowardice to make themselves invulnerable, and she even planned on unleashing a tidal wave while the mages in the background would tell Lucy not to give up.

"Go, Lucy! You can win!" One young boy said happily, hoping the crystal would pass on those words of encouragement.

A young girl stated nicely as she softly smiled, "Miss Lucy, the tides have not shifted against you. We believe that you can make a tidal wave of pain go down on that evil lady!"

Clair shouted in a frustrated manner, sternly looking at those young guild members, "Is that all you've got, Winter Snowflake?! Shout with confidence to cause some avalanches!"

The people in the background proceeded to loudly send cheers to Lucy, not caring that the nearby snowy mountain rumbled from their loudness, and Clair created a scalding hot tidal wave to go slam against the Cerulean Crystal. As it absorbed all the water, Gray calmly observed the situation and decided to make large snowballs. He grinned as he coated them with circular shells of ice, and Gray threw one up into the air. He watched it land on the blue crystal to get absorbed, causing the Cerulean Crystal to glow with regular blue and light blue beams of light, but would that be enough?

Clair fired an extremely large blue ball of water from her right hand while Hayato quickly made three icicles appear in his left hand, and their attacks simultaneously struck the Cerulean Crystal. It had now absorbed enough magic that would help Lucy have a chilling amount of density, even possibly having the sheer power to drill right through Samantha's attacks, and Clair sternly looked at the blue crystal as she hoped that Lucy would have that fierce look in her eyes that was seen when they first crossed paths. To Clair, fierceness could boost Water Magic to where it could kill.

* * *

 **In Mumargi Town...**

The darkness of Samantha's Shadow Crystal hardly even bothered the dark mages in the carnival area of Mumargi Town, but they followed Kenji's orders to strike the purple Requiem Crystal with their spells. They gladly healed him as soon as they saw him come back with Kikuko, glad to have a good leader to give them great commands, and seeing the violet aura show them that Lucy was struggling against Samantha only strengthened their resolve to help the girl who defeated Kyouji. From also seeing Lucy use Darkness Magic quite well in the Grand Magic Games, they thought she was an awesome dark mage.

Kikuko unleashed a purple stream of dark flames from her mouth to give more power to the Requiem Crystal, even purposely weakening it to a very low level for the purpose of hitting it with an orchid purple ball from her left hand to make it be immensely stronger, and her attack went well with the other dark mages who were firing their flames at the violet crystal. Some wizards shot out large purple spheres of dark energy that had the ghostly effects of passing through any solid objects that were in the way of their actual target, and their spheres only became solid upon hitting the crystal.

Kenji struck the crystal with several blobs of poison that he fired from his mouth, watching the crystal absorb them, and he even fired a massive vortex of amethyst purple poison as well. The crystal absorbed the energy, and some kids even fired small streams of flames from their mouths to strengthen the Requiem Crystal's power. Kenji felt like unleashing a barrage of poisonous spells, but the sight of six purple crescent moons starting to surround the violet crystal in a hexagonal formation took him by surprise. The crescent moons exploded around the Requiem Crystal in massive blasts that were quickly absorbed, and Kenji's eyes widened in amazement.

"That spell belongs to..." Kenji stated aloud, before turning around to see his older brother smile calmly at him.

"Hey, Kenji. Whoever made this dark magic really didn't think it through to have it only help themselves." Kyouji told him in a calm manner while aiming his left hand at the violet crystal.

He unleashed a purple crescent moon from his left hand, only to see the shadowy energy in the sky boost its power by six times as much, and Kyouji made his projectile strike the crystal. It created a blast that was extremely massive with the Darkness Magic being sucked into the Requiem Crystal, and Kyouji soon watched the Requiem Crystal shine with a purple glow while violet beams of light shined from it. The crystal also gained more power from Samantha's darkness, so she was quite cocky to overlook the thought of it backfiring like this.

Several mages fired more attacks at the Requiem Crystal, giving it a pretty terrifying amount of power, and Kyouji simply thought about how he only came back here because he heard some dark mages in Tsukiari Town say that Kikuko accompanied Kenji of the Elite Seven to Nurie Town. He could see his younger brother start to smile like a confident leader, not even sad that he lost to Lucy, and Kyouji calmly smiled at how that girl from Sabertooth became so strong to where the purple crystal seemed to show that she was fighting the very last person in the ancient challenge.

* * *

 **Elsewhere, in Hyakkoku Town...**

Chisato fully healed Minami, and the girls now stood in front of a pink tower where some psychics would strengthen their skills with Heavenly Body Magic. The two girls were joined by five female psychics while they all stood around the pink Starry Crystal, and the seven women struck it with their most powerful spells. The high amount of heavenly energy quickly increased the power of the crystal, and the psychics all decided to use a nice spell that was known as Heavenly Psi Future. Minami and Chisato both heard about that move, but they hadn't mastered it yet.

Minami hit the Starry Crystal with the pink ball that had five small pink stars of Heavenly Body Magic circling around it, and a massive pink blast transpired. Chisato could see the pink crystal's power increasing even more to where she felt like not even doing anything, and she even looked up at one of the tower's windows to see Yukata remove a nice painting of psychic orbs from a wall. She was glad that the psychics weren't focusing their minds on any art thieves right now, and she'd certainly be amazed to see one of their neatest spells.

"Heavenly Psi Future, come back to the present!" The five women all shouted simultaneously as they looked quite confident.

Chisato told Minami while their eyes were pink, gently smiling, "I foresaw immediately that we should get back."

The girls leaped away from the Starry Crystal to see five large beams of cosmic energy come down from the sky, precisely from the cosmos, and the pink beams struck the Starry Crystal directly! The blasts were layered on top of each other while all of their incredible power was concentrated into one point, and the pink crystal began to glow quite brightly. Minami could sense that its power was at quite a high level, as well as sensing that other people in Fiore made strong vibrations of magical power occur, and she was actually glad that Chisato came to Hyakkoku Town today.

Minami started to cheer Lucy's name while picking up her pink electric guitar that Chisato placed on the ground, and she only wished that her band members weren't so quick to run away when the sky got eerily dark. Minami played an epic guitar solo as she told Lucy to just rock out like this was the biggest battle of her life, and she told the crystal that everyone who was lending her their power was like the crowd that wanted to see her give a great performance that could surpass the darkness of her opponent. Chisato merely told the crystal that she couldn't entirely foresee victory in Lucy's future, so she wanted Lucy to make it happen.

The pink Starry Crystal accumulated enough energy to where it could now float upward at a fast pace and leave behind a pink streak, and it flew all the way back to Nurie Town. Minami could see the six other crystals flying across the black sky to go back to their owner, also having enough energy to help Lucy in this battle, and she smiled along with Lucy's other allies in Fiore who had no doubts about her being able to become the true champion. In fact, she would get to see the coolest reason about why those gems were called the Rainbow Crystals.

* * *

 **Ten minutes later, at Samantha's fashion company...**

Everyone was surprised to see the seven Rainbow Crystals return to Lucy, circling around her while they shined brightly with their high amounts of power, and their many voices could be heard encouraging her to not give up. The crystals even made voices be heard from far away, such as Natsu telling Sting to show that evil woman how a dragon slayer could kick some serious butt, and Kira even heard Erza's voice telling her to show off the fierce strength from her fight with Kagura. Samantha was incredibly puzzled about what was going on, and she also wondered how Lucy could start standing up.

The seven crystals sent everyone's magical power into her body to revitalize her, as well as making a rainbow-colored wave of their power fully heal her friends, and the seven auras soon changed from color to color while they engulfed Lucy's body. Some tears actually fell from her eyes while hearing everyone cheer for her to achieve victory, liking how Sabertooth was not fighting alone, and even Kira thought it was incredibly sweet for everyone to be wishing for their victory. Really, an adventure of seven different crystals was now displaying ultimate unity.

The seven Rainbow Crystals all touched Lucy's spell book at the same time to make it change colors as well, shining with seven beams of light in the colors of the rainbow, but she opened up the book to only see that her special moves were getting replaced. That was something odd to see in this fight, and it was very perplexing. No matter what though, Lucy was planning to win. She would not only defeat Samantha to become the true champion of the ancient challenge, but she would be sure to free the fashion designer from a life of darkness.

Lucy continued to sense everyone's magical power while getting to see her opponent angrily run up to the Shadow Crystal and stand in front of it, letting her foes know that they would not be able to touch it ever again, and Samantha was hoping to take down Lucy with her last seven attacks. She decided to reference the seven crystals from her rumor while thinking that seven attacks would be perfect for destroying someone who was really lucky to be facing her right now, but Samantha would probably have to worry about her own luck.

"Silence those wretched voices! No matter how strong you are now, I'll crush your power into the ground! You cannot wound me, little girl" The black-haired woman viciously told Lucy while the black aura surrounded her body.

Lucy replied with a confident facial expression as the spell book became red, looking at her newest move, "This new attack needs to be read by me, but it has the power of the people who hold this spell!"

She added confidently while turning to Kira, "The book being red really does show me how far we've all come together, and I'll need your help!"

Lucy unleashed the move known as Flame Sorceress' Roar, and it caused her to shoot out an extremely massive beam of red fire from her mouth! This spell was accompanied by Kira using Flame Chandelier again, directing it straight at Lucy's spell for it to get stronger, and the red Fire Crystal glowed brightly while Kira got to see the spirit of Matsurika stand beside her. She unleashed her own Flame Chandelier attack to greatly increase the strength of Kira's flames, and the red-haired merchant's attack headed straight for Lucy's new move!

It boosted her spell's power even more, possibly by three times the amount, and Flame Sorceress' Roar struck Samantha directly! It created an extremely massive fiery blast that caused her to scream in agonizing pain, and the power of Lucy's Rainbow Crystals was strong enough to break through her invulnerability! She was experiencing the powerful flames of a dragon slayer, the strong flames of Erza, Kira's immensely powerful flames, Matsurika's powerful flames from hell, and Lucy's own Fire Magic. Lucy got to see a vision of Natsu and Lisanna smiling confidently as they both gave her a thumbs-up from Emblaze Island, and Matsurika evilly smiled at Kira before disappearing.

Samantha's skin was now charred while the blast faded away, fire being around her, but she fired a large black ball of her magic at Lucy. The blonde-haired girl quickly dodged it while seeing its blast be massive, only to place her left hand on the ground with the wish of the ground being dense enough to withstand that, and Lucy's desire caused her red book to become orange. The aura of Earth Magic engulfed her left hand while Lucy sent her power into the ground, and she increased its strength to where Samantha's spell only made tiny cracks appear.

As Lucy had stepped back, she realized that Samantha was purposely leaping back to get far from her. As the fashion designer used Nightmarish Speed again, however, that made Lucy turn several pages to see her next new spell. It was known as Earthy Sorceress' Terra Barrage, and this move made Lucy's feet be engulfed in an orange aura. She aggressively stomped on the ground to create a large earthquake, making Samantha be stopped in her tracks, and Lucy went up to her for the purpose of striking her with an uppercut to her chin. Samantha was sent soaring high into the air, but Lucy was far from finished.

"Get back here!" Lucy shouted fiercely while the Earth Magic gave her enough strength to jump incredibly high.

Samantha shouted in a shocked manner as she was sent up into the air, "My chin hurts so much! She could've busted my jaw!"

Lucy got above Samantha to slam her down with a harsh kick that was followed by six more powerful kicks, sending her crashing into the ground while those kicks felt dense like rocks, and the moment Samantha touched the ground was the moment that seven orange massive blasts occurred! She screamed in pain from feeling the earthy energy, even seeing some rocks rise up to strike her in the face, and Lucy landed in front of the blasts while hearing the ground around Samantha begin to crack. She saw some rocks gently roll towards her while they turned into sand, and the Earth Crystal let the mage from Sabertooth got to see a vision of Shinji nodding as he gave her a stern look.

The spirit of Sunahama stood on the sand while Lucy was startled by his sudden appearance, but the robber only faded away with a smile of respect. The blasts also faded away while Samantha stood up, seeing the gravel on the ground turn to sand, and she did not plan on losing to Lucy. She raised her hands up high to make black clouds appear in the sky, seeing them spin around in a circle, and Samantha informed Lucy that being underneath any of the clouds' shadows would just make black beams of energy come down upon her with immense ferocity.

Lucy's spell book changed from being orange to being yellow, as she thought some serious speed would be needed for her to strike Samantha without getting hit, but she got to watch Sting try to hit the shadows with his White Dragon's Holy Ray. He fired several beams of light at the shadows, causing them to release their explosive black beams of energy, and the black clouds vanished one by one. Anything being under those clouds was the equivalent of stepping on landmines, but those dark clouds had the weakness of falling for Sting's fake-out tactic.

Lucy turned to the page of the next spell, and it was called Voltage's Lightning Deity. This spell made Lucy run at extremely high speeds while leaving a flash of yellow lightning where she initially stood, and the spell instructed Lucy to get close to Samantha. She got behind her while giggling, before disappearing again, and Lucy got in front of her. She appeared on the left and right sides of Samantha while each appearance was followed by a flash of lightning, and Lucy went back to where she initially stood for the purpose of getting a great electrical charge from that first thunderbolt.

"All of that flashiness, and you didn't even touch me." Samantha arrogantly told her while starting to smirk, thinking her move was stupid.

Lucy asked her in a rather calm manner, imitating her first tough enemy, "Was that a dumb mistake or my holy and divine move with electricity?"

She gently snapped her fingers for for massive thunderbolts to come down from the sky, striking Samantha from the four directions where Lucy's flashes of lightning occurred, and they were as large as the lightning that Akina recently used to heal others in Voltage Town. The thunderbolts made four massive yellow blasts of yellow lightning transpire, giving Samantha quite a tremendous shock as she felt electrocuted, and the Electric Crystal allowed Lucy to see Akina smiling with Hikari and Ayame while she angrily told Samantha that she now got an electrifying of what Lucy went through to get the third crystal.

The smoke cleared up to reveal that Samantha was still standing, the black aura around her body getting fiercer with the more hate she felt towards Lucy, and the fashion designer used a new move that made her shadow stretch out towards Lucy. It attempted to grab her shadow, but she quickly ran off while the yellow book answered her desire for it to be mint green. She used a move known as Kazehana's Grassy Butterfly, and this move oddly made seven green butterflies come from Lucy's mouth. Samantha felt like laughing at how they fluttered down to the ground, bursting to cover it with green grass that dripped with dark green goop, and even Sting thought that move was bad.

The spell instructed Lucy to stick out the index finger and middle finger of her left hand, however, and she did. A mint green aura engulfed her index finger while a dark green aura surrounded her middle finger, and four mint green twisters of wind appeared on the left side of Samantha. Four dark green vortexes of dense leaves appeared on the right side of Samantha, and Lucy separated her fingers to make the peace sign while grinning excitedly like Takuya would. That caused all her projectiles to slam into Samantha, creating four massive mint green blasts that were followed by four massive dark green blasts, and Lucy comically dropped her jaw in sheer amazement.

Takuya's group certainly put high amounts of energy into their spells while the winds formed a wide circle around Samantha to prevent her from escaping, and Lucy could guess that the green-haired skateboarder and Hizuki would want that move replicated for them to use it for themselves later on. Even so, she was quite glad to be dealing all this damage to Samantha. It was a very nice way of getting payback for getting kicked around earlier, and the Verdant Crystal allowed Lucy to see Takuya and Hizuki confidently smiling as they stood on both sides of the town's elder.

"If you're going to keep attacking me, I just have to make a nice defense!" Samantha harshly told Lucy while she was badly bruised, still thinking she could win.

Lucy asked in a shocked manner, not assuming that dark magic had shield spells, "What?!"

Samantha giggled as her black aura made a black sphere of the Shadow Crystal's energy surround her, telling Lucy that any explosive attack wouldn't even be able to pierce through her sphere of protection, and Lucy hoped that her blue-haired rival had recovered by now to lend a helping hand. The lightning from earlier had slightly touched some clouds, causing rain to plummet through the shadows, and the ground became more wet while the fiery flames from earlier began to weaken in power. Lucy went to the fifth section of her book to find the newest spell of Water Magic, and it was quite awesome.

The spell was known as Eisetsu's Briny Blue, and it caused a large blue drill of water to surround Lucy's left hand. The large and long drill began to rapidly spin in a clockwise manner, before propelling itself off of Lucy's hand, and it headed straight for Samantha's sphere! The rain touching the drill only boosted its power and speed, making it immediately touch the sphere for the purpose of piercing through it, and Samantha soon frowned in a worried manner from seeing her defensive barrier have several cracks while the piercing projectile broke through. It merely stayed suspended in the hole, however.

The second half of this attack required Lucy to put her left hand into a cold puddle, which she did, and the water soon turned to ice while it formed a long light blue drill on her hand. This one spun in a counterclockwise manner while frosty air came off of it, and it quickly headed straight for the first drill. Upon making contact with the first drill, the icy one pushed the watery one towards Samantha with tremendous force! It pierced into her stomach, causing the evil villain to be wounded, and the icy drill detonated in a chilling explosion to smash down her barrier! Samantha coughed up some blood while the blue drill soon became normal water, but the black aura around her made that lost skin be regenerated. The Cerulean Crystal allowed Lucy to see Clair and Hayato giving her looks of fierceness that were reflected in the spell, and the rain stopped.

Samantha angrily thought that Lucy wasn't trying hard at all out of cockiness, thinking that not immediately destroying the shield was Lucy's way of mocking her, and the black-haired antagonist unleashed numerous black spheres of energy from her hands. She aimed them all up at the sky while these projectiles stayed suspended in midair, and Samantha planned to throw them all at Lucy. By this point, the darkness kept Samantha from even thinking that this move could literally destroy her company and make her fall from her high point of success.

"This move will definitely annihilate you, Lucy! No matter what you do, this magic is dark enough to wipe you out!" Samantha stated as she laughed evilly in a demonic tone of voice, the pupils still not in her eyes.

Lucy replied with a confident facial expression as her words made the book become purple, "Your magic is pretty dark, but my Darkness Magic will show you what true dark power is. In fact, seeing a girl's head rise up from my shoulder was darker and creepier than your attacks."

She turned several pages again to find the new spell of Darkness Magic, and it was simply called Witch's Dark Lunar Mire. This spell required Lucy to spin around rapidly like the moon going around Earthland, and several purple crescent moons appeared around her. They slowly went around her in a circle while she kept spinning, but all of Lucy's projectiles soon went towards Samantha's spheres. When one of them touched a sphere, it created a purple explosion that was quite massive while sending its poison down upon the rooftop.

The explosions had wide ranges that could destroy multiple spheres at the same time, even hitting other crescent moons, and the copious amount of explosions got the attention of many people in Nurie Town. The last crescent moon to explode left behind a really foul odor while amethyst purple clouds of smoke came down around Samantha, and she started coughing while feeling her magical power drop. This attack had the side effect of leaving behind poison, and the dark mages also had their sweet or destructive specialties for nullifying magic. The Requiem Crystal shined as it let Lucy see a vision of Kenji and Kyouji sharing a high-five while they smiled at her, prompting her to feel glad that they learned to work together.

Even though Samantha was now low on magical power, she attempted to charge up her black aura again. Nothing seemed to happen, and she ending up shooting out a spiraling black beam that landed at Lucy's feet. It created a miniature black blast, causing Samantha to slowly back away, and she saw her attack leave behind a scorch mark in front of Lucy's feet. The blonde-haired girl demanded that she have the power to send her foe to heaven, causing her spell book to now become pink, and Lucy went to the last section of her spell book.

As she was about to recite the final spell, Lucy thought about how this adventure began with the Rainbow Crystals being in seven different parts of Fiore. The fact that they now allowed everyone to work together with their types of magic being in unison was certainly amazing, and Lucy would definitely be sure to go around Fiore for the purpose of thanking them later. She looked down at the final new spell in her book, and it was certainly as beautiful as the artwork that Chisato liked to steal while Minami could foresee this spell making Lucy be quite a star.

"Heavenly Body Magic, guide my hands! Cosmic Supernova's Psychic Ascent!" Lucy recited with determination in her voice, looking confident as she proceeded to set the book down on the ground.

Samantha exclaimed in a fearful tone while she began to tremble, "No... NO!"

Sting added with a look of realization on his face, recalling what happened earlier, "Hey, Samantha. Your invincibility never let me make you feel the power of Fiore's best dragon slayer. It's time for me to make you pay for what you did to those models."

Lucy raised her hands up high to fire seven pink beams that were massive, three from her left hand and four from her right hand, and her beams went high into the sky. Sting's White Drive allowed him to jump up quite high and fire his White Dragon's Holy Breath into the air, creating a massive beam of white light, but it didn't go as high as Lucy's final attack. Her projectiles went up into space for a moment, before coming back down to gain an extreme amount of power and speed, and Lucy's attack passed right through Sting's light to absorb its strength!

This heavenly spell could absorb any bright type of magic it came into contact it, causing it to get a greater boost of power, and the seven beams began to rotate around in a small circle. They were all aimed down at Samantha's company while the white light from Sting's attack surrounded them, and Samantha could only scream as they came down upon her. The attacks created seven pink blasts that were quite massive as they occurred in succession, having enough brightness as the other attacks for everyone in Fiore to see them, and Samantha screamed in immense agony from the painful blasts.

They left behind pink clouds of smoke that filled the rooftop, but Lucy gave the ground enough density earlier for the attack to only create some cracks in the ground that would not be very dangerous. Lucy watched Rogue and Sting walk up to the smoke and blow it away, revealing that Samantha's white pants and black T-shirt were badly bruised, and she was quite bloody while not even being able to stand up. She attempted to raise her head up at Lucy while looking displeased, remembering her arrogance about defeating her with seven spells, but she fell back down to the ground while barely being able to move.

Lucy, Kira, and Rogue were very surprised to see Samantha's hair slowly become blonde again while her grey eyes returned, and the protagonists watched the antagonist have tears start welling up in her eyes. Lucy calmly asked Sting about why he enhanced a spell that was already quite powerful, and the light dragon slayer happily told her that he just wanted to help Lucy's spell have much more power for the final blow. Sting smiled happily at the sight of Lucy giving him a triumphant grin, and he gave her a small kiss on the lips.

They turned to Samantha to see her whisper about how her company had now fallen out of her hands, the shadowy sky disappearing to reveal sunlight that shined down on the rooftop of the fashion company, and the Shadow Crystal made a circular dark void spread outward from where it stood to release Mayumi from the darkness. Everything was now out of Samantha's control, feeling like she lost to a girl who became the new winner of the ancient challenge, and it was so frustrating for her to be defeated by a well-known wizard who was standing firm like an awesome queen.

* * *

 **Ten minutes later...**

When the situation settled down, Minerva went through the black doors to see that her friends were okay. The seven-colored aura around Lucy's body had faded away while her spell book was still pink, and her seven Rainbow Crystals surrounded the Shadow Crystal while they formed a heptagon. They were using their high amounts of energy to permanently neutralize its dark effects, which would create something nice, but Minerva hardly cared about that. Her green eyes went around the rooftop to see that her friends were not injured, but the sight of Samantha on the ground had gotten her attention.

She wasted no time with walking up to Samantha Kalos and opening up the brown diary that was in her hands, making Lucy wonder if Levy passed it on to her, and Minerva merely frowned at Samantha while she heard her say that the loss of her fame was an absolute nightmare. On the contrary, Minerva felt like the blonde-haired fashion designer could now open up her eyes to a world of light. Samantha's dark magic was still nullified as well, so there was nothing bounding her to the malice of the black crystal right now.

"I can't lose my company... You'll expose my dark ways, and I'll be nothing.. What a nightmare.." Samantha whispered to Minerva as she trembled, looking up at her green eyes.

Minerva replied with a stern frown on her face, proceeding to open the diary and flip to a certain page, "You're wrong about that last part, fashion reject. You're just starting to wake up from the nightmare you've been in for the past several years of your life, and I hope one of my friends gave you a nice kick to the head."

Minerva read aloud for everyone to hear, her eyes shifting to Samantha, "October 7th, X790. It is Lumina's 15th birthday, and we decided to have the ceremony in front of the black crystal. She was so excited to see it, and actually placed her hands on it before even touching the chocolate cake."

Samantha said nothing as her grey eyes widened in shock from hearing that name, only hearing Minerva rhetorically ask her who was the girl named Lumina, and Minerva read more of the words on the page. Everyone was amazed to hear the revelation of Lumina's mother changing her daughter's name to Samantha on that day as one of her birthday presents, the other being the Shadow Crystal, and her mom did it against her husband's wishes to keep her original name. Samantha Kalos used to be Lumina Kalos, the girl who the Shadow Crystal accepted as a vessel for its dark feelings of hatred and malice, and she said nothing as she thought back to those past memories.

Minerva went to the pages where Lumina's mother spoke of how she could no longer save her daughter from the darkness of the Shadow Crystal, realizing that she made the terrible mistake of even exposing her to the Shadow Crystal, and the cold darkness of the crystal's nightmarish power gave Lumina quite an evil personality. Lucy was surprised to find out that Lumina was only fifteen, but Lumina frowned as she reminded her that dark magic at any level had its side effects. Getting power from the Shadow Crystal was great, but its side effect aged the fashion designer to where she became twenty-two years old. In that sense, the dark power worked in an opposite manner to the Fairy Sphere that Mavis could create.

Lumina rudely asked Minerva if her mother sent her here, but the black-haired woman had no trouble with informing the villain that her mother got herself killed to ease her own pain of letting her own selfish desires affect Lumina's life in such a dark way. She only hoped that someone could save Lumina from the darkness that consumed her to make her be so evil and corrupt, and Lucy was the person who fulfilled that request. Tears welled up in Lumina's eyes, but they were not tears of defeat. She began to cry from being so lost in the darkness to where she couldn't see that her parents only wanted to save her while models were happy to work for her with no ulterior motives, but she had simply rejected them or used them as tools to make them tragically perish in nightmares that were undeserved.

Rogue calmly told Kira to heal Lumina with some Fire Magic, as they couldn't stay up here forever, and the red-haired merchant threw a large red flame at Lumina. It engulfed her for several seconds to heal her wounds with its warmth, and Lumina was soon capable of standing up by herself. She saw Minerva get behind her, however, and the tough woman pushed her hand against Lumina's back as she pushed her towards the black doors with ease. Minerva would take her back to the Sabertooth guild for interrogation, before letting the other members of Team Sabertooth take Lumina to the Magic Council for possible imprisonment for the crimes she committed, but Lumina softly smiled as she felt like saying something.

"Lucy Heartfilia, you are free to take over this company as its next president and have all my money. With my reputation soon to be tarnished, you rightfully deserve to change the fashion world. You showed me the cleverness, strength, and beauty of your spells." Lumina told her in a calm manner with her back turned to the mage from Sabertooth.

Lucy responded in a shocked manner, feeling like she wasn't exactly the best person for that position or the most persuasive salesperson, "Are you crazy, Miss Kalos?! I can't do that! Don't give such a great honor to me! I'd just like to keep being a wizard in Sabertooth!"

Lumina replied sternly as Minerva allowed her to stop and face Lucy to say one last thing, "Earlier today, you were just another person trying to complete the ancient challenge. Lucy Heartfilia, you now stand before me as the newest champion! The decision of who runs to company and how it's managed is now in your hands. By the way, don't lose your title as champion."

As Lumina turned back around to walk through the black doors with Minerva following her, she did not even care about her own set of Rainbow Crystals. She no longer had the power to keep them floating on the ground floor, causing them to fall while they'd be there for anyone to find them, and whoever got them would be able to freely challenge Lucy. Of course, just having the crystals didn't mean that any challengers would be strong enough to take on Lucy. She was certainly quite a champion, and her level of power was amazing.

Sting hugged Lucy while feeling like they needed to celebrate this joyous occasion, particularly with a grand feast back at the Sabertooth guild, and they could even throw another awesome party with everyone being invited. They would certainly deserve that for helping Fiore be saved, and Sting told Lucy that she was so awesome in that final fight. It was great for him to see how she looked so brave and happy, really liking how her determination helped them succeed, but the light dragon slayer and Lucy smiled as they also had someone else to thank.

Lucy gladly thanked Kira for being in Magnolia on the fateful day where she literally ran into her, but Kira grinned joyfully as she felt like she really needed to thank Lucy for keeping her from going out to the harbor where those men from Hell's Blaze had been waiting for her. If Kira had been taken hostage and killed, then she would've never gotten the chance to have so many great adventures with Lucy. They may not have fought together for each Rainbow Crystal, but traveling to different places for simple jobs or to sell different items as a merchant was always so thrilling. In fact, Kira hoped they could all go out on a fun job tomorrow.

She turned to Rogue and curiously asked him why he didn't help much in the fight, thinking he just let everyone else do the work, but the shadow dragon slayer told Kira that he just wanted to see if Frosch would show up. The green Exceed actually ran off when the black aura initially surrounded Lumina and made her have no eyes, making Frosch be freaked out, and he was probably chatting in a carefree manner with some models who thought he was the cutest cat that they had ever seen. The protagonists merely chuckled at his words, and they all decided to go look for him while leaving the rooftop mere seconds before something really nice occurred.

The seven Rainbow Crystals used their power to make the black Shadow Crystal become the white Luminous Crystal, making it no longer have any darkness, and the white crystal shined with its beautiful light that went well with the shining sun. It shined quite brightly at the top of the fashion company, looking really nice to the people of Nurie Town, and its large amount of magical power radiated in large waves that even made Jenny Realight wake up from being unconscious in the highlands. The ancient challenge was now finished, and the protagonists would soon have many days of fun with feelings of love included.

* * *

 **How was Chapter 49? Feel free to tell me your thoughts on it. Lucy and her friends have saved Fiore, and they defeated the darkness of the Shadow Crystal! However, the adventures aren't over yet! The final chapter will conclude "The Feeling of Rejection"! Wow. I really can't thank you all enough for encouraging me to get this far in my very first fanfic, and the ending will be awesome!**


	50. Chapter 50

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.**

* * *

 **The Feelings of Love & Admiration **

* * *

Lucy woke up in the bedroom of her apartment in Magnolia Town, quite happy to see the bright rays of warm sunlight shining through her window, and she smiled happily while getting out from underneath the pink comforter. Seven months had gone by since the day where she defeated Lumina Kalos to become the new champion in the ancient challenge, but those months were not just filled with battles. She had gone on many dates with Sting, boosting their chemistry even higher than its level during their adventures with the Rainbow Crystals, and Lucy liked how their relationship was so great.

She walked over to her closet for the purpose of changing her clothes, and Lucy took off her pajamas to be in her white bra and white underwear while thinking about what outfit would be good to wear. The paparazzi would certainly take note of what she was wearing, and Lucy was surprised to see them quickly come upstairs while she went down the stairs of Lumina's fashion company. They had taken photos and asked her several questions while being excited that she beat Lumina, even asking her what flavor of soda would suit a champion, and Minerva had no issue with letting Lumina spread the news of her own defeat at the hands of Lucy Heartfilia while escorting the antagonist to the train station.

The news of Lucy being the champion spread far and wide, quickly reaching Sorcerer Magazine, and it even brought more jobs to the Sabertooth guild. When Lucy returned to the guild on the very next day, several girls actually came up to her with magazines that showed her picture from the Grand Magic Games on the front cover. They had asked her to sign the magazines, which she did, and her fellow guild members were also happy to congratulate her for being the newest winner of the ancient challenge. To the girls who only had Fire Crystals, Lucy's success was definitely something to admire.

Lucy chose to wear a green T-shirt with a light green skirt and mint green flat shoes to match, liking how her green style of clothing could really be perfect for a nice lunch date with Sting, and she wondered if Sting would take her somewhere nice. Yesterday, he had taken her on an awesome date to Hyakkoku Town. They got to see the grassy park, along with the planetarium, and Lucy even went into the pink tower to just see Minami and Chisato quietly focusing their minds with some psychics while Yukata was back in Hoshizora Town to be a substitute curator at the museum for the employees who all wanted the day off from work.

 _"I wonder what Sting has planned for us today, and I hope it's as exciting as the job we'll do later!"_ Lucy thought to herself with a calm smile on her face, before going to her kitchen.

Even though she got to enjoy leisurely time with Sting, the mages of Sabertooth still had jobs to do. Lucy even took a job last month that involved her having to simply sign a fan's T-shirt with her autograph at Shioru's train station, and she received 100,000 jewels from the client while they also gave her a delicious chocolate cake to take back to the Sabertooth guild. She even took a job in that same month with Sting to get some medicine for a civilian who got poisoned by a snake bite in Shioru Town, but they surprisingly went to Mumargi Town because Kenji became quite popular for being a user of Poison Magic who could make poison-curing medicines with Kikuko's help.

Lucy went to her kitchen's fridge to see that there were eleven eggs left in the box, perfect for making some nice omelettes, and she took the white box of eggs out of the fridge. She took out three eggs and gently cracked them above the nearby black pan to let their contents fall into it. Lucy placed the pan on the stove and gently turned on the burner where it was situated, before closing the box of eggs, and she put them back in the fridge. Lucy took out a bowl of some chopped green spinach that she purchased four days ago from Kazehana Town's vegetable shop, and she poured it all into the pan.

The powerful mage was quite glad that she stopped by Takuya's cafe on that day to see how he was doing, as he was the one who decided to share Hizuki's recipe for making healthy omelettes that she was serving to people in the cafe, and Lucy picked up a small container of Parmesan cheese that was on the counter. She shook it gently and sprinkled it down into the pan, smelling the omelette start to cook, and Lucy gently stirred around her ingredients with a wooden spoon that was also on the counter. As she was cooking, however, something else came to Lucy's mind.

She and Erza still hadn't really spoken in several months, their last words to each other being said during their epic fight in the Grand Magic Games, but Lucy did not want this conflict to last forever. She wondered if Erza would even want to apologize for how she treated her so badly and made her experience the feeling of rejection, prompting her to stop stirring her breakfast, and Lucy ran to her front door. She decided that it would be nice to make a hasty run to the Fairy Tail guild and hopefully come back to her home not burnt down by overcooked food, but Lucy's hastiness with running out the door caused her to nearly run into someone who was just about to reach her front door.

"You won't collide with me twice, Lucy. You must really want to run somewhere, or you wanted to do that as a nice reference to when we first met." Kira stated in a snarky manner while seeing her friend come outside, giggling confidently at how Lucy didn't knock her down again.

Lucy asked her friend while comically seeming annoyed at that snarky comment, "Kira, what are you doing here? Aren't you and Rogue supposed to be having breakfast?"

Kira told Lucy in a calm manner as she smiled, delight in her hazel eyes, "We're actually going to have an early lunch after the surprise, Lucy. Sting's waiting for you. He saved up money for something really nice that he bought for you, but he won't say what it is. It's a nice surprise, and I hope you'll like it."

Lucy curiously stepped to the side while wondering what the surprise could be, thinking that Sting could've bought her a house in Shioru Town or maybe even a treasure map for them to try finding something really rare, and she let Kira come inside to smell the omelettes lightly cooking. Kira went into the kitchen area of Lucy's apartment to handle the cooking, grinning as she calmly stated that someone needed to put salt in their breakfast, and Lucy wondered if she would get to see some amazing fireworks or enjoy a big buffet with her fellow guild members.

As Lucy stepped outside and closed the door while Kira opened a cabinet to find a can of salt, she wondered if Sting was planning to take her to see the white rhombus-shaped crystal that was on top of the fashion company. It would be a very nice sight to see in the morning, especially since the Luminous Crystal was said to be incredibly beautiful, and Lucy would enjoy seeing the symbol of her ultimate success. However, it would be weird for Lucy to visit the office that once belonged to Lumina and sit in her black chair.

* * *

 **10 minutes later...**

Lucy continued to think about Sting's surprise for her as she waited for Kira to finish cooking the breakfast, and she hoped that they could go to the train station soon. The lovely smell of food came through Lucy's doors when she slightly opened them, letting her know that Kira was definitely making the omelettes hot enough, and she also heard her friend giggle while saying that Lucy needed to add some more Parmesan cheese to her omelettes. Kira certainly made the breakfast taste good, and Lucy would definitely be in the mood to see how her fiery friend made the omelettes better.

Lucy smiled nicely as she thought about going inside to just sit down at the kitchen table, since the omelettes seemed like they were nearly done cooking, but the blonde-haired girl was interrupted by sound of footsteps slowly coming towards her. Lucy slowly glanced in the direction of where the Fairy Tail guild was located to see Erza walking towards her, an apologetic look being on her face while her eyes shifted from the ground to see Lucy, and Erza slightly increased her walking speed to reach her former teammate. Erza also had somewhere to be, but she finally found the words that needed to be said after all this time.

"Lucy, I am very sorry for how I treated you so badly several months ago. It was very stupid of me to not tell you for those seven that Natsu loved Lisanna, and our friendship never would've been broken so badly if I didn't let you get hurt. I also want to apologize for how I disrespected you and your team in the Grand Magic Games. Even after the tournament ended, I didn't take the loss very well."

Her apology prompted Lucy to calmly ask as she folded her arms, "Why were you so rude to me, though? Erza, why did it seem to you like I'd easily accept apologies or be weaker than you? Why did you even badmouth me and Sting in Crocus with so much arrogance, but then get riled up over my snarky remarks?"

Erza replied while still looking apologetic as her eyes shifted to the ground, before looking Lucy in the eyes again, "Well... Lucy, it's because I felt very jealous of you. Each time I heard you got a Rainbow Crystal, it really shocked and frustrated me to see you becoming stronger while I didn't improve as much. When I saw that you had all seven crystals and seemed so strong, I was so upset because I didn't want to make myself feel like you were far above my level. I just couldn't accept your level of strength until after you gave me that painful beating in our fight, and I take back everything I said about you. Lucy, you deserve all the recognition you get."

Lucy simply stood there while saying that she could forgive a person who owned up to their mistakes, but Erza would have to be the one to build their friendship back up from the rubble. Lucy even told the scarlet-haired woman that she could learn some good lessons from Minerva, the woman who pushed Kira to unleash her full power in that awesome fight against Kagura, and Lucy narrowed her brown eyes while saying that a good wizard always tried to encourage their friends to become stronger instead of looking down on their progress.

Even though Erza could see that Lucy was strong, she still felt curious about why Lucy never seemed hesitant to use new types of magic or new spells in her great adventures. She told Lucy that she checked out the newspaper on the day where she left Fairy Tail, and it was quite a shock to see Hikari say in the interview that it seemed like Lucy was using those spells of Earth Magic for the very first time. Lucy kindly informed Erza that she wouldn't hesitate in a battle because she believed in her own intellect and her own strength, and not wavering in the face of adversity would even help her grow in the midst of a battle.

Her answer satisfied Erza, who proceeded to walk away, and Lucy began to smile while Kira gently opened the doors to her apartment. The red-haired merchant took a glance at Erza while recognizing that she was from one of Fairy Tail's teams in the Grand Magic Games, but she was curious about the fact that Erza was walking off somewhere by herself. Lucy also wondered why the other members of Team Natsu weren't at Erza's side right now, since they were an interesting group, but Erza would be glad to say one final thing to Lucy.

"By the way, Natsu is in Kasai Town with Lisanna. He now has authority over that part of the challenge for those crystals, and whoever beats him will be handed a red crystal from Lisanna. Since it's presumably the first location, he tries to take it easy on weaker challengers. Mages with lots of experience get to deal with him at full strength, though." Erza explained to Lucy and Kira as she was walking away, starting to smile at how she and Lucy could have a conversation without drama while they were no longer enemies.

Lucy asked Erza while also starting to smile, looking at the brown flyer in her left hand, "Where are you headed off to, Erza?"

Erza simply responded calmly while not turning around, "I have to go help a friend take down a dark guild, and his advice from several months ago really helped me work better with the other team members. In fact, they sometimes get surprised to see him come to Fairy Tail to get S-Class jobs for us to handle together."

Kira simply giggled to Lucy while telling her that Erza was probably happy to be seeing a guy who she was presumably building chemistry with, and that prompted Lucy to run back inside while she nearly forgot about the omelettes that she had been making before Kira showed up. Lucy was glad to see that Kira turned off the stove while she was hasty enough to have cracked open two more eggs into the pan, and three delicious omelettes were on one plate that was on the kitchen table. Kira's two omelettes were on a white plate that was on the counter in the kitchen, and she'd gladly get them.

As Kira closed the door to Lucy's apartment and saw Lucy sit down at the table to eat, she decided to actually do something nice before having breakfast. The girl with hazel eyes walked into Lucy's bedroom to see the red book resting on her brown desk while it was next to her ten golden Zodiac Gate Keys that were all lined up nicely, and Kira recalled asking Lucy why her spirits weren't involved in the grand battle against Lumina or in any of the battles against the Elite Seven. Lucy had told her that it was somewhat symbolic, since Lumina started the challenge with rumors of the crystals, and Lucy wanted to complete the ancient challenge with only the spells or tactics she learned from using the spell book.

That was definitely a good way for Lucy to test her abilities in each fight, and she certainly worked hard to make each type of magic be at a good level. Kira simply smiled at the red book as she also saw the seven Rainbow Crystals gently surrounding it in the shape of a heptagon, the first three crystals being above the book in the colors of a rainbow while the other four were at the bottom in their proper order as well, and all those adventures were definitely amazing. She looked at the Fire Crystal while still being curious about why Matsurika's spirit showed up in that fateful fight against Lumina, but Kira began to smile as she assumed that the Fire Crystal showed its way of assisting her as well.

She walked out of the bedroom to get her plate of omelettes while still looking forward to what Sting had planned today for Lucy, and Kira was glad that Rogue was with her on their double dates to see their chemistry grow. Kira and Rogue would enjoy seeing Lucy and Sting be such a happy couple, even playfully tackling each other to roll around on the grass in Shioru Town, and Kira enjoyed how her relationship with Rogue blossomed to where they once enjoyed being in the Sabertooth guild's heated pool together. The couples would soon reunite after breakfast, but Kira simply smiled at the thought of what was going to happen.

* * *

 **Three hours later, at the Sabertooth guild...**

Sting simply stood at the front of the Sabertooth guildhall while he was in front of a table with Lector, and the blue-eyed dragon decided to let Hayato's sense of fashion inspire him today. He wore a dark blue tuxedo with regular blue pants to match, looking quite sharp while Rogue wore a simple black tuxedo with black pants to match, and Sting had told Kira earlier in the day to go get Lucy. He really wanted to see her today, but it was not going to be for another mission. In fact, he really wanted to thank her for being in his life.

There was a rectangular black box on the table while it contained seven nice items that Sting purchased from a jewelry store in Shioru Town, and the box ended up costing 170,000 jewels. Compared to the profits that Sting and his friends made on S-Class jobs, though, that money could easily be earned again. He thought about how Lucy was such an awesome person to him, really liking how she was so confident while having some moments of clumsiness, and Sting thought about the day where they met on Emblaze Island.

He was honestly surprised to see her show up to Kasai Town's dock back then, and giving her the Fire Crystal for the purpose of purchasing that tropical green dress was something that Sting would definitely remember. Their playful snowball fight in the forest near Eisetsu Town was fun, too, and there were many other memories that he would also cherish. Lucy even wore a beautiful white dress to one of their dates last month, and Sting loved how it looked so beautiful on her while they visited a fancy restaurant in the city of Crocus.

Lector flew on to Sting's shoulder while they both wondered how Lucy would react to her nice gift, and the red Exceed was the only one who actually knew what Sting bought for Lucy. He also felt like she needed to be thanked for taking the job of modeling at Lumina's company on that fateful day, as Lector was able to successfully feed those models who were starving, and exposing the dark secrets of that fashion company only strengthened his resolve to help Sting choose someone who could run it efficiently and manage the sales. He watched Rogue stand a few feet away from Sting while thinking about discussing that thought with him, but the guild's entrance doors soon opened.

"We're here, everyone! Lucy, it's great that we got here before some people decided to leave!" Kira happily told her with a nice smile on her face, only seeing the members of the Sabertooth guild sitting at tables.

Lucy asked Sting in a curious manner as she decided to walk up to him, her cheeks blushing a light shade of pink from seeing him in that tuxedo, "What's going on, Sting? What's your surprise for me?"

Sting asked Lucy in a calm manner after he walked up to the black box and picked it up, getting down on his left knee and smiling, "You know how I love every moment that we've spent together, right? You know how you make me happy every day of my life, Lucy? Well, will you marry me?"

Lucy replied with a facial expression that was mixed with happiness and amazement, her cheeks blushing more pink as she cheerfully spoke, "After everything we've been through together, Sting, of course I'll marry you! I love you so much!"

Before Sting could even show Lucy what was in the black box, she joyfully tackled him down while she happily blushed. Sting fell backwards on to the floor with Lucy, really liking how she had her blonde hair down, and his cheeks blushed light pink as their lips were mere centimeters away from each other. Lucy and Sting smiled at each other while they slowly ended up closing that gap between their lips, sharing a kiss that was quite passionate while they were happy that their romantic chemistry allowed them to reach this stage of their relationship, and they closed their eyes as they kissed.

Minerva sat down at a table with Rufus and Orga while simply smiling at how Lucy loved Sting enough to tackle him down like a strong woman, and Kira simply cheered at the sight of her friends kissing. She proceeded to run up to Rogue and give him a warm kiss on the lips while putting her arms around his neck, liking how his hands touched her red T-shirt before they went down to her brown pants, and Rogue gladly kissed back as he wasn't as flustered as he would've been several months ago. Kira was glad to be helping Rogue be more confident in their relationship, and she giggled while breaking the kiss.

Lector cheered excitedly from seeing Sting and Lucy kiss, pretty glad that his best friend would now be married, and he watched Frosch walk up to the black box that was now in front of Lucy and Sting. The green Exceed opened up the box to see seven rings in different colors of the rainbow, which was a nice reference to the seven Rainbow Crystals that were involved with their colorful adventures that were filled with excitement, and Frosch watched Lucy break the kiss with Sting to see the rings shine brightly in their different colors.

Lucy gently got off of Sting to pick up the box and see the beautiful rings, liking how they shined in their different colors because of how they were also infused with magic, but which ring would she end up choosing? With seven beautiful rings to choose from, picking just one of them would probably be impossible. She honestly hoped that Sting would keep all of them, just in case another pair of lovers ever decided to get married, but Lucy eventually decided to keep the green ring. She chose that one because of how they became a couple right after Lucy earned the Verdant Crystal, and Sting could wear the blue ring as a reminder of how he cheered Lucy up on the day she found the Cerulean Crystal.

"I love you so much, Lucy Heartfilia." Sting stated as he got up, giving her a happy smile while being glad that they met.

Lucy replied kindly as she continued to blush, putting the box down on a nearby table, "I love you as well, Sting Eucliffe. If it weren't for you saving me at the dock in Kasai Town, we wouldn't have been able to have all those great adventures together. You gave me the Fire Crystal to improve my fashion, and the crystals kept helping us improve our passion."

Sting responded nicely to Lucy as they decided to pick their rings together, continuing to smile, "Speaking of passion, I almost forgot to tell you and everyone else that Yukino has been a journalist at Sorcerer Magazine for quite a while now. The day you and I met was the same day where I asked her if she wanted to join our search for the Fire Crystal, but she felt like it would be better to have some of her own adventures."

Lucy could understand that, as all mages had different goals, and she was glad that the other Celestial Spirit Wizard was on her own journey for excitement. Lucy felt like she had accomplished her own personal goal of becoming very strong, along with the goal of getting all the Rainbow Crystals and their evolved spells, but there was still one little goal that the protagonists in the Sabertooth guild would have to reach. Getting lunch would be their goal for the day, and today seemed joyous enough to where everyone could get off.

As Sting proceeded to challenge Lucy to a race involving who would reach the burger restaurant first, he smiled as he thought about what would happen later in the day. Kira and Rogue would probably be happy enough about Sting's proposal to when the wedding would need to officially happen, and Lucy would probably send out invitations to all her friends. As they left the guild with Kira and Rogue running after them, Lucy and Sting looked up at the bright sun that reflected how the brightness of each Rainbow Crystal was tied to how they met so many different people who had their lives changed. In fact, they both hoped that the brightness they experienced in the present would help them and their friends have even brighter futures.

* * *

 **Epilogue...**

One year after Sting proposed to Lucy, they chose to get married in the church of Voltage Town. Kira helped Lucy find the perfect wedding dress to wear, choosing an orange one that had been in Lumina's fashion company, and Sting simply wore his blue tuxedo. Their wedding even had a large chocolate cake that could be cut into many slices while all of their friends showed up in attendance to give various gifts, and Rogue decided to be the priest at the altar. Lucy Heartfilia was happy to share that lovely kiss with Sting on their wedding day, happily becoming Lucy Eucliffe, and she was happy to become his wife while Sting would be her husband.

Kira and Lisanna both wore red dresses at the wedding while they chose to be Lucy's bridesmaids, but Kira ended up catching the bouquet of flowers that Lucy threw. Kira ended up running the fashion company that formerly belonged to Lumina, starting it back up with new fashion tastes that were just as stylish, and her skills with being a merchant allowed her to make several huge sales. Rogue decided to be her personal assistant who would help Kira hire the best models, and they even held some fashion shows that attracted tons of people.

Their relationship was warm and hot like fire that showed off the beauty of its shadows, and Kira ended up marrying Rogue three months after Lucy married Sting. They had their wedding in the Sabertooth guild, and Kira used her Fire Magic to make fireworks that were very pretty. Four years later, they ended up having a red-haired daughter named Kotomi Cheney. She had Rogue's red eyes while also having inherited his Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic, and she also wielded Kira's powerful Fire Magic. Their daughter may have been emotionless at times like Rogue, but she did giggle and smile confidently from seeing her mother's rematch against Kagura in the Grand Magic Games. In fact, her first word was "snarky."

Natsu had lots of fun with his task of battling people in the ancient challenge during his first year of being in charge of fights in the volcano, really glad that he had several victories while only having a few losses against powerful mages from the Hell's Blaze guild, and Lisanna was glad to be by his side while their relationship thrived. She really enjoyed being around Natsu, loving how he always fought hard against the challengers who sought Fire Crystals, and Lisanna was very glad to marry Natsu on the day where he saved her from falling into lava. Natsu and Lisanna lived very happy lives together, and they ended up having a white-haired daughter named Nazuna Dragneel in that same year.

Shinji's stern personality helped him go on to become a respected archaeologist who worked greatly with his teammates from Haina Ganseki, and following Shinji's orders helped the team find many treasures in the vast desert near Nichibotsu Town. When they weren't busy digging, Hyde had the job of being the guy who people had to fight for Earth Crystals that were unearthed. He gladly enjoyed his job of playing around with foes, but Hyde also decided to try improving his bond with Moka. They may have bickered in the sandy town and in the desert, but Kurami and Sutēki were glad to nicely point out that the duo loved feeding each other pumpkin spice pudding as a nice bonding activity. In fact, Kurami thought it was pretty cute.

Hikari took notice of her mother's success on jobs that were sent to Voltage Town, prompting her to take Akina to the Magic Council for them to decide if she'd be a Wizard Saint. When the council members still thought she was just a very dangerous criminal, Akina challenged Jura to a match and proved to be quite a powerful lightning priestess. She ended up being known as the strongest human Wizard Saint, the fifth strongest of the saints, and Hikari was proud of her mother for such a great accomplishment. Akina saw herself as an electric goddess, and Hikari rewarded her for that victory with a trip to Crocus for her to see Grand Magic Games in X793. Akina also got to talk civilly with Lucy, and she even happily told her that Hikari's decisions as a guild master made Voltage Town spark with success.

Takuya still ran the Kazehana Scale cafe while he still did jobs as a mage of Lamia Scale, and Ooba decided that he and Hizuki were powerful enough to be S-Class mages. Takuya bragged about that honor on a daily basis to the single women who visited his cafe, saying how his cleverness was a fine trait for them to admire, but he was once pulled away kindly by Hizuki. He took notice of how she started wearing a green four-leaf clover in her hair during that year while she told Takuya that she was lucky to work with a smart guy like him, and Takuya actually blushed from feeling Hizuki give him a kiss on the lips that tasted like minty cupcakes. She asked to be his girlfriend, which he was happy enough to say yes to, and they started dating. The green-haired nerdy guy was happy to be with the punkish girl who had jungle green hair, and they even let Chelia and Lyon handle the fourth part of the ancient challenge when Kazehana Town held its annual festival.

Clair's father decided to step down as mayor and give her the position, which somewhat worried her, but Hayato would gladly be by her side as the adviser who would help her run the town smoothly. They were still in Winter Snowflake, though, and they competed in the Fiore Winter Games again. Hayato got first place in the ice fishing event while he was happy to see Clair truly feel like the strongest water-wielding mage when she defeated Juvia with her fierce strength in the event of fighting in extremely chilly waters, and Clair's victory came with her smile of happiness.

They got the gold medals in the tag-team snowboarding and skiing events, even easily defeating Fairy Tail and Blue Pegasus in the event of which guild could make it to the top of a snowy mountain first during an avalanche, but Clair showed her appreciation for Hayato in the ice skating event. On their final dance around the ice rink, Clair kissed Hayato on the lips while being glad that he helped her make the right decisions in life. Hayato kissed back, and he was happy that Clair was such a mature woman who could be tough while also being relaxed in activities such as skating or swimming through cold waters in a race. Clair was happy to achieve success with Hayato, and she even liked it when Lucy and Sting showed up to congratulate them for their victory. Clair thanked Lucy for congratulating her, but the girls did confidently promise to have another battle someday.

Getting third place in the Fiore Winter Games didn't matter much to Jenny Realight, who felt like she would make a good snowboarding instructor, and she even took some time away from modeling to handle Clair's request of teaching the newest mages from warmer towns about how to snowboard on the easiest or the most dangerous mountain trails. She even used her Sound Magic to create situations with avalanches, and her smart use of that magic made her be on the cover of Sorcerer Magazine during one of the winter months.

Juvia seemed pretty bummed about getting second place in the Fiore Winter Games, as she really wanted to impress Gray, and the male with black hair did seem slightly upset about how they were always being beaten by Clair and Hayato during the tournament. Juvia thought about kissing Gray to cheer him up, but she was surprised to see him look into the stands after every event to see Ayame tell him that he was amazing out there. She also told him after the closing ceremony that there could always be someone who could knock him down to leave him with a silver trophy, but he'd be a winner to her. Gray had smiled warmly at her encouragement, and Juvia definitely saw her as a rival.

Kenji continued to run Mumargi Town like a great leader who the dark mages could respect, and the mansion he lived in became the town's guild. It didn't get rowdy like Fairy Tail, and the mages who wielded Darkness Magic were happy to live in a great town while they could have fun at the carnival. Kikuko returned to the town of Tsukiari to lead her own guild of poison-wielding mages, but she did stop by Mumargi Town to hang out with Kenji. His leadership of the town and his impressive skills with Poison Magic made Kikuko attracted to him, and they eventually started dating. Kenji's assistant, Misora, liked seeing her master be happy.

Kenji's kind personality was also something that Kikuko admired, as she could be vicious while also having an ethical side, and she even used a spell of Darkness Magic on the area where Kenji's mom rested for him to temporarily chat with her spirit. She was quite happy to see how her son was a very kind adult who made great friends, and his mother even approved of the woman who liked him. She had also asked Kenji and Kikuko if Kenji was happy, but the man with purple hair hadn't seen his brother since last year.

Kyouji eventually came back to the mansion near the end of the year X793, causing several people to glare at him, but Kenji welcomed him back with a smile and open arms while he had enough kindness in his heart to see if his older brother had changed his ways. Kyouji hugged his brother as he would be glad to work under someone who made Mumargi thrive, and Kyouji even told Erza that it was okay to hang out with the mages of Mumargi Town. After years of working with Kyouji and getting to know him, Erza actually found herself blushing at Kyouji's beautiful brown eyes that he displayed when he took off his mask, and she enjoyed spending time with him. She was also happy to see Lucy and her friends from Sabertooth have fun at the carnival on that same night, even cheering when Lucy easily put three rings on some bottles to win a slice of purple grape cake.

Minami and her rock band toured around Fiore while they had many concerts, gathering lots of money as their seven best songs were all at the top of the charts, and the pink-haired guitarist achieved lots of fame in the following years. Hyakkoku Town became widely known because of Minami's amazing music, but she did stop by Magnolia Town to see how Fairy Tail was doing. Mirajane was happy to see her again while they ended up reconciling, and Makarov was happy to see one of his children being quite successful. She even let Mira play the violin in her rock band when the record label needed songs with an unusual instrument, and the harmony was certainly there.

Chisato and Yukata may have been great art thieves for most of X793, but one of the psychics foresaw one of their thefts and reported it to the Magic Council. Before the pink-haired girl and the brown-haired girl could be sent to prison, though, Kiriko decided to make Chisato be the new curator in Hoshizora Town. She felt like that museum needed a good curator who could watch over paintings and sculptures, and she also thought that Yukata would be great at Chisato's assistant. Kiriko even told Chisato to envision her spells of Heavenly Body Magic and paint them one by one in starry settings, and that psychology helped Chisato see that she did have a knack for art. She even used her psychic abilities to assist her with painting amazing pictures of herself using those spells, and those portraits were temporarily displayed in the museum before some famous artists in Fiore chose to legally buy Chisato's work for tons of cash.

After Minerva had found some medicine in Nurie Town to cure Lumina of being poisoned and her magic being nullified, she took Lumina to Sabertooth for questioning. After the interrogation was done, Minerva and the protagonists from Sabertooth accompanied Lumina to the Magic Council. Lumina admitted her crimes of killing models and being very corrupt to the Magic Council's members, causing her to be sentenced to life imprisonment, and Lumina felt like she got what she deserved. The only thing she could read in her cell was her mother's diary, and she thought that her life was wasted in the darkness.

Seven years after her imprisonment, however, Jason from Sorcerer Magazine came down to the prison area of the Magic Council's headquarters because of how the company needed to compete with the success of the models in Kira's fashion company. He hoped to find someone who could be a good model to express the authentic feeling of despair, feeling like they were in a dark pit of failure, and Jason asked for Lumina's release. Since the woman with creamy blonde hair hardly even remembered how to use her magic and was released for no longer being threatening, she had chosen to begin a new life as a swimsuit model for Sorcerer Magazine. She ended up unknowingly walking right past Minerva in Kasai Town, after finishing her first photo shoot near the dock, and she wore a white bikini. Lumina had removed her black rhombus-shaped hair clips to wear ones that were white while she seemed like her new life would be enjoyable without any darkness.

As for Lucy and Sting, they enjoyed a happy marriage while they ended up having a daughter in the year after they got married. Sting bought a house in Shioru Town for him and Lucy to live together with their daughter, and Lector lived with them as well. Lucy decided to name her daughter Lillie, which Sting thought to be a very nice name, and Lillie grew up to similar to how Lucy looked as a child while she had Sting's blue eyes. In those seven years after Lillie was born, she cutely showed signs of having Sting's great amount of confidence while also having Lucy's niceness.

When Wendy visited Lucy with Happy and Carla, Lucy had kindly told the sky dragon slayer about how Lillie enjoyed hearing the story about when they brought Hikari out of the rain to heal her. Wendy had also giggled from hearing Lucy and Sting talk about how Lillie ran into Kotomi one day, and the two young girls became best friends after that. Although, Kotomi's snarky responses did get on Lillie's nerves. The red spell book had been on Lucy's brown desk in her new house while she thought about how her life changed after experiencing the feeling of rejection, and experiencing the feelings of love and excitement made her life even more amazing. Lucy remained as champion of the ancient challenge while Sting became Fiore's best dragon slayer, and seeing one of Lillie's cute drawings feature the Rainbow Crystals on the desk made Lucy feel like the adventures in her life were as beautiful as a seven-colored rainbow.

* * *

 **How was the final chapter? Did you like it? Well, that's the end of "The Feeling of Rejection". Wow! Even as the writer, I have to say this story was pretty amazing, especially since it's my first fanfic. I really tried to make the romance and adventure be focused on in this story, and some arcs turned out to be really awesome! If you choose to review, feel free to share which characters and which arcs were your personal favorites! I'd love to know! Thanks for reading, and happy holidays!**


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